Food is a daily necessity as we all know. For some of us we don’t think twice about having a lunch break, but for others knowing when and where their next meal is coming from can be quite daunting.
With bills rising and wages depressing, more and more people have been turning to food banks in order to survive, according to research conducted by The Trussell Trust. The trust runs over 400 food banks throughout the UK and has seen the number of people turning up for food portions triple in the last year alone.
Around 350,000 people went to a food bank between April and September this year, with around 115,000 of those children. Chris Mould, the Executive Chairman of The Trussell Trust, spoke of the increase in people visiting a food bank.
He said: The level of food poverty in the UK is not acceptable. “It’s scandalous and it is causing deep distress to thousands of people.
“As a nation we need to accept that something is wrong and that we need to act now to stop UK hunger getting worse.”
So why are people needing to visit a food bank more now? Around 65, 000 people went to a food bank due to changes with their benefits and 117,000 people went because of delays with their benefit payments.
To keep up with demand, the trust is planning to open two or three new food banks every week. Many food banks are located in local churches and community halls – to enable easy access for those that need them.
90 per cent of the food is donated by the public and are given out in a box containing three days’ worth of supplies. The box contains non-perishable foods, like meat, fish and vegetables, as well as pasta, cereal, long-life milk, tinned fruit, and tea.
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