Rising living costs push more families to seek food aid

“I wish food banks didn’t exist at all and that people had a welfare system that met their needs.”

The head of the Southampton food bank says that the need people have for emergency food parcels has increased, along with the cost of living.

As the colder season approaches, more and more people find themselves in a food crisis and in need of assistance. 

Volunteers here in Southampton say that the help they provide “unfortunately isn’t enough to get people back into an even keel”.

These concerns also underline the issues they’ve been having with fewer donations.

The volunteers say they are seeing a shortfall in donations in comparison to previous years.

With demand going up, and donations going down, charities are forced to sometimes turn people away. 

The nature of food banks is shifting with recent budgetary changes.

“It’s no longer just people out of work; many recipients are in work but struggling to get by,” said one volunteer.

The challenge beneficiaries face is “the classic”, according to one volunteer, “heating your home versus eating”.

Across the UK, the Trussel Trust’s network distributed nearly 2.9 million emergency food parcels.

Meanwhile, figures shared by the Food Foundation and the government show that 13.6% of households reported moderate to severe food insecurity. 

It’s not just food donations that charities find themselves in need of, but also toiletries and warm clothes such as coats and winter boots. 

Despite all these challenges, volunteers say it’s the people and their faith that makes them keep going, and the hope that maybe in the future food banks won’t be needed anymore.