Hailsham Foodbank has provided almost 7,000 emergency food parcels in the last 12 months
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Hailsham Foodbank said it has seen a 63 per cent increase in the number of emergency food parcels distributed compared to last year.
Project manager Julie Coates added: “This is our busiest 12 months ever and despite generous donations from the public, we are struggling to keep up with the demand. We are having to buy in food every week so we would really encourage you to consider donating items to us or making a monetary donation so that we can buy the items that we need.
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Hide Ad"We are finding increasing numbers of people who are working having to access us and have also seen a large increase in debt since Covid. We fund an in-house debt advisor who is able to help people with debt and a citizens advice advisor who is able to help with income maximisation.”
Hailsham Foodbank is part of the Trussell Trust’s network, which reports record levels of need in the last 12 months with almost 3 million (2,986,203) emergency food parcels provided to people between April 2022-March 2023.
Chief executive at the Trussell Trust Emma Revie said: “These new statistics are extremely concerning and show that an increasing number of people are being left with no option but to turn to charitable, volunteer-run organisations to get by and this is not right. The continued increase in parcel numbers over the last five years indicates that it is ongoing low levels of income and a social security system that isn’t fit for purpose that are forcing more people to need foodbanks, rather than just the recent cost of living crisis or the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Hailsham Foodbank was set up to provide short-term support to people in an emergency, they are not a lasting solution to hunger and poverty, and more than three quarters of the UK population agree with us that they should not need to exist.
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Hide Ad“The staff and volunteers at Hailsham Foodbank are working tirelessly to ensure help continues to be available, but the current situation is not one they can solve alone.
“For too long, the people of Hailsham have been going without because social security payments do not reflect life’s essential costs and people are being pushed deeper into hardship as a result. If we are to stop this continued growth and end the need for foo banks then the UK government must ensure that the standard allowance of Universal Credit is always enough to cover essential costs.”