Trussell Trust Foodbank opens in Newtownards
The first Trussell Trust foodbank in Northern Ireland has been launched in Newtownards by Thriving Life Church with support from other local churches. This is a response to meet the immediate needs of local people in crisis.
The foodbank Network provided emergency food to 61,000 in 2010–11, 50% more than the previous year. Foodbank recipients are not the homeless; they are low–income working families who hit crisis, people who have been made redundant or people experiencing benefits delays.
As the result of the recession and debt crisis foodbanks are opening at an unprecedented rate to meet the high demand for emergency food aid: in 2011 The Trussell Trust has launched at least one new foodbank every week taking the total to 161 foodbanks nationwide.
Gareth Mills, the Pastor of the Thriving Life Church, said “We count it a privilege to be in a position to serve our local community in a very practical way, bringing the love of God to those in need by providing them with life’s basic necessities.”
The Trussell Trust Foodbank Director, Jeremy Ravn, says: ‘Since 2008 we’ve seen numbers fed by foodbanks increase by 136%. Recession followed by high unemployment and rising food and fuel prices has had a huge impact. Foodbank clients are faced with impossible choices between paying the rent and buying food. Parents skip meals or consider crime to feed their children. The shocking truth is that thousands are going hungry in their own homes in 21st century Britain.’
He adds: ‘The good news is that more local churches and communities are becoming aware of the hunger on their doorsteps and are partnering with us to start foodbanks to stop people going without food.’
In 2011 foodbanks has been launched every week, providing a minimum of three days non–perishable food to people in crisis. Coventry Foodbank opened in January and has already fed over 3,000 people.
Project Manager, Gavin Kibble, says: ‘We hugely underestimated the number of people in need of emergency food and have been shocked at the demand since opening. Recently we fed 150 people in just one week, leaving the storeroom almost bare. We did an urgent local appeal for food donations and also received help from the foodbank network enabling us to meet thisunprecedented need.’
57% of children in poverty in the UK live in working households [Joseph Rowntree Foundation]. Many of those helped by foodbanks are in work or struggling after losing their job or business. For Adrian and Kay, a couple made redundant together, ‘the foodbank was a lifesaver.’ They received emergency food for two weeks, helping them to feed their four–year–old daughter until redundancy pay came through.
Trussell Trust foodbanks are run by the community for the community. Most foodbanks are run by local churches in partnership with the local community. All food given out is donated by local people and every person in receipt of a food parcel is referred by a frontline care professional such as a doctor or social worker. The Trussell Trust estimates that numbers fed by foodbanks could swell to 500,000 by 2015.
Find out more at www.newtownards.foodbank.org.uk