The hunger on all our doorsteps: Food bank demand trebles The number of people needing emergency food handouts has trebled in a year – and is expected to rise higher still. Almost 350,000 people, including 126,000 children, have received at least three days’ meals from food banks in the past 12 months. Welfare reforms which came into force this month will force even more families into hunger, it is feared. Chris Mould, chairman of the Trussell Trust, which runs the food banks, said: ‘We’re seeing people from all backgrounds – working people on their lunchbreaks, mums going hungry to feed their children, people whose benefits have been delayed and those struggling to find enough work. ‘It’s shocking that people are going hungry in 21st-century Britain.’ The trust said it had 346,992 regular clients last year, up from 128,697 in 2011-12. Only 26,000 needed help in 2008-09. The busiest food banks were in south-western England, the south-east and London. Nearly half of recipients blamed benefits problems. Oxfam director Chris Johnes blamed it on ‘a perfect storm of spiralling living costs, lack of decent, secure jobs and benefit changes’. He added: ‘This could be just the tip of the iceberg as changes to the welfare system already in the pipeline could rip apart the safety net with devastating consequences.’ The Department of Work and Pensions, which began referring people to food banks in 2011, insisted the benefits system provided ‘a safety net for essentials such as food’. It added: ‘Our welfare reforms will improve the lives of some of the poorest families in our communities.’ Source - Metro, 24 Apr 2013
I think I'll give my local a call in the morning. You can find yours here: http://www.trusselltrust.org/map
I loved the irony of this headline with a massive picture of Kate Middleton's face next to it in the Metro the other day.
Our local Tesco donated £750 to the local food bank. It's a good cause and all very nice but it maddens me to know that it it but a drop in the ocean compared to the amount they throw away on a daily basis!
UK Uncut Target HSBC With Foodbank Protests UK Uncut are back out on the streets this weekend promising to turn branches of HSBC into foodbanks on Saturday 20th July. Actions are planned in at least 12 cities including London, Glasgow, Manchester, Oxford and Shrewsbury – for the full list visit their website. http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/actions?n=&m=1&d=20+Jul+2013 The action has been billed a day of ‘creative civil disobedience’ involving ‘occupying and shutting down bank branches, distributing food to the public and collecting food for distribution to local food banks.’ Naomi Rogers, a spokesperson for UK Uncut said “Half a million people now rely on food banks and it’s the government’s decision to slash benefits that’s forcing that number up. The benefit cap, bedroom tax, the scrapping of crisis loans and attacks on disability living allowance and job seekers allowance are driving people into shocking levels of poverty.” Source- The Void http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2013/07/16/uk-uncut-target-hsbc-foodbank-protests/
