Inside the Walsall food bank helping hundreds of poverty-stricken families
The number of poverty-stricken families tearfully seeking help from a Walsall food bank remains high prompting calls for the next Government to finally tackle the issue.
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Unemployment, redundancy, high rents, benefit cuts and the soaring cost of living crisis are all reasons why thousands seek support from North Walsall Foodbank, which has operated from Pelsall Methodist Church, on Chapel Street, Pelsall, since 2014.
Between April 2023 and March this year, just under 2,400 people were provided with food parcels – almost half of those supported were hungry children.
The Trussell Trust, of which North Walsall Foodbank is part of, unveiled an election manifesto of its own calling on whichever party gets in to eradicate the need for foodbanks across the UK.
Part of this calls for an ‘essentials guarantee’ which would give all Universal Credit recipients a protected minimum amount that covers food and bills.
Jon Maltman, who manages the North Walsall charity, said demand surged during Covid and this has shown no sign of reducing with people unexpectedly finding themselves needing help.
But he added actual food donations have reduced meaning they are having to increasingly dip into financial reserves to buy what is needed to complete parcels for users.
He said: “This is really an untenable long term answer. This can’t carry on, something needs to give and something needs to change.
“That’s the message the Trussell Trust is trying to present in this election. I do want usage to reduce and ultimately to disappear as a solution.
