News: Helping the Hidden Hungry

Having a roof over your head in London doesn’t necessarily mean you have enough to eat. According to the charity Foodbank, 13 million people across the UK are living on the edge of poverty. In this recession, many people are struggling to make ends meet in one of the most expensive cities in the world. Throw a redundancy, bereavement, illness or emergency repair into the mix and suddenly you could find yourself without money to feed you or your family.

Social services don’t often respond quick enough to meet the needs of people who find themselves in this vulnerable position. Benefit delays and growing debt can lead to family breakdown, repossession or worse. Claire Nicholl and her children waited so long for benefits to come through, she had no choice but to turn to Foodbank for help:

“They’re nice people and everybody in the community chips in. I needed to feed my kids and when I asked for help, they did straight away – they’re generous. If it wasn’t for Foodbank, I’d be begging. There’s no need to be embarressed, just ask for help.”

Jeremy Ravn is the Foodbank Network Manager at the Trussell Trust. Although feeding the homeless might be a more obvious need to some, Jeremy believes in the pro-active approach:

“Those living on the streets represent less than 1% of people who actually go hungry on any one day. They’re obviously the most visible and most in distress, but there are lots of others who could end up on the street or so far in debt, that they either resort to shop lifting or being evicted from their home. Lots of people on the streets are already being helped by homeless charities and we have to regonise that early intervention to stop eviction or people resorting to theft, is a way of preventing homelessness.”

Foodbank relies on the good will of communities in order to survive. Every week local churches contribute non-perishable food gathered from their congregations comprising of tins, pasta, rice and long life milk. Supermarket collection days are held where shoppers are encouraged to buy one tin or packet of food to help support those in need. During Harvest Festival, schools also make a huge contribution. Foodbank operates a referal system with the Citizens Advice Bureau, care workers or health visitors so that food vouchers are allocated to those who need it most, equating to three days of emergency food.

Foodbank wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for volunteers like Charlotte James who says she is the “human face” of the organisation and comes in two days per week to personally give out the food parcels to people coming in. Besides listening to those in distress over a hearty meal or a cup of tea in the Foodbank cafe, she also checks the food’s sell by date and ensures the storehouse is in order.

“I want to help people who are less fortunate than myself. I really want to make a difference in people’s lives. People have come back and thanked me for getting them out of a hole. It gives me something to get up for in the morning and gives me a sense of purpose and belonging.”

The Trussell Trust set up the first Foodbank in Salisbury in 2000, providing free food to people in crises. Even in this supposedly affluent area, hungry, broken people were falling through the cracks onto their doorstep. There are now over 40 Foodbanks working with local churches all over the UK to feed the hidden hungry. 24,000 people were given emergency food last year, a 71% increase on the year before.

Jeremy Ravn is looking forward to launching more Foodbanks across London. He’s confident that an initiative born in Salisbury will work across the capital providing there is good will:

“We are loving our neighbours and that’s really important. Unless we can help each other, how can we survive as a community? We are getting the community to love one another in a meaningful and practical way that will make a difference”.

Premier’s campaign to launch a Foodbank in every London borough
Read more about Foodbank