as East Grinstead foodbank reveals emergency food supplies that went to local people in six months.
East Grinstead Foodbank provided 699 three day emergency food supplies to local people between 1st April and 30th September this year. Of this number, 312 went to children.
The foodbank, a member of The Trussell Trust’s network which has today reported a UK-wide increase foodbank use, is concerned its help will be even more needed in the next six months of the year, as the colder weather draws in.
The figures are a 0.92% increase on the same period last year. The charity believes the local increase is due to people struggling with continued issues with benefit payments; issues with the roll-out of Universal Credit; insecure work; closure of local charities offering crisis support; lack/reduction in available local government support.
East Grinstead Foodbank shares the concerns of other foodbanks in The Trussell Trust’s network about the Government’s new benefits system, Universal Credit. The foodbank has needed to give emergency food and support to people who are waiting weeks for a first Universal Credit payment, not able to access support or receiving payments that don’t cover the cost of essentials.
We need to be careful about comparing 2 x 6 month periods in isolation. However, we have been getting busier – a trend that the Trussell Trust reports across all foodbanks.
It’s difficult to be precise about the impact of the roll-out of Universal Credit in this area – only started 6th June 2018 – so we are just entering our first autumn/winter period. If evidence from the Trust and other foodbanks is repeated here – then demand for foodbank services will rise significantly – but it is still early days as yet.
According to the Turn2us charity, nationally:
– around 14.4 million people live in poverty in the UK: 8.5 million adults, 4.5 million children and 1.4 million pensioners.
– People in work also live in poverty: 60% of people in poverty in Britain live in a household where someone is in work.
Tony Cox, Foodbank Manager of East Grinstead Foodbank said:
“It’s a real concern that in only six months we’ve provided 699 emergency supplies to local people. These figures don’t even cover our busiest time of year – as the colder weather draws in, we often find more people needing our help.
“It’s not right that anyone in the East Grinstead and surrounding areas are being forced to turn to our foodbank. Our volunteers offer vital support when it matters most, but they should not need to. We want to see an end to local people needing emergency food – with a benefits system that catches people before they fall into crisis, and secure work that provides people with enough money to cover the cost of essentials, we could reach that future. We’re determined to make sure that until that time comes, emergency help is here for people, but there needs to be some long-term change because we don’t want to be here forever.”
See our website page for items the foodbank is particularly in need of at the moment Here The charity has asked for festive donations to be donated in early December at the latest, to ensure volunteers have enough time to process and distribute these donations to people before Christmas.
The running costs for the foodbank are around £30,000 a year, all of which is raised locally to enable them to continue their work. Costs include warehouse space, to sort and stock donated food, and other overheads like utilities and insurances. The foodbank welcomes any new offers of help with funding – local businesses, organisations and individuals interested in supporting the foodbank’s work can find out more at BT Mydonate http://bit.ly/FBEGDonate
Contact:
Tony Cox – Foodbank Manager can be reached on [email protected]
or 07983 209940
East Grinstead Foodbank:
Stock
IN – on average 300 kilos per week, excluding Harvest and Christmas donations – we continue to be blessed with very generous donations.
OUT – In June 2018 and August 2018 we issued 1200 kilos to Clients. In addition we were able to support Crawley Open House, the local Probation Service and Hastings Foodbank.
We remain very grateful for all our volunteer help and local donations, not just for our day-to-day essentials, but also our recent Harvest and now Christmas appeal. THANK YOU!
