Christmas appeal: Trussell Trust calls for tins off your trolleys

Collecting donations: Volunteer Sveta at Tesco in Morning Lane

It is difficult in December not to think about food. Seasonal musings rarely neglect a bit of turkey or a mince pie, even when the focus is squarely set on operational tasks such as hanging decorations or drawing up Christmas card lists.

But when things are tight, just getting a basic dinner on the table every day can be a struggle. And things are very tight for a growing number of local people, including many in work.

In 2013-14, a record-breaking 913,138 people in the UK were given emergency food parcels by one of the Trussell Trust’s 423 foodbanks, up 35-fold from the 25,899 clients supported by the Christian charity in 2008-9.

This staggering increase over the space of just five years indicates a veritable food crisis, especially acute in areas like Hackney with high rates of under-employment.

A report of the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Hunger in the UK, Feeding Britain, was published this week.

Backed by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and led by Labour MP Frank Field and the Bishop of Truro, Tim Thornton, the report calls for an end to hunger in the UK by 2020.

Hackney Foodbank

The good thing is that if you are among those in need, help is at hand; and if you are fortunate enough not to be in this position right now, you can do something for fellow residents who are.

The Hackney Foodbank, started by the Trussell Trust, brings together the energy of several dozen volunteers who give their time and skills to collect and distribute food to 200-250 local residents a month. Hackney Foodbank says it has supported 5,000 people since it opened in September 2012.

Manager Liza Cucco explains that for this low-overhead organisation, “The most challenging thing is the logistics of moving food around.”

It works like this: the volunteers collect food from partner organisations at supermarket collection events, or via the Foodbank’s Somerford Grove collection point in Stoke Newington. They then sort through the foodstuffs donated to make sure the items are all identified by doctors, social services, staff at the Citizens Advice Bureau and other frontline care workers.

Most of the Foodbank’s clients are people whose benefits have been delayed or recently changed, as well as those in low-paid work who find it difficult to make it to the end of the month. “Our aim”, says Cucco, “is to make sure people leave the Foodbank with a bit of a weight lifted off them.”

The staff at the Foodbank also work with clients to help them address their longer-term difficulties.

“We all know that not having food is not a problem, it is a symptom of a problem,” says Cucco. “We’re doing all we can to make sure that the people who come to us are being properly supported outside the Foodbank to come up with solutions to the problems they face.”

The Foodbank is seeking donations of food, and also volunteers of all sorts. One pressing requirement at the moment is for people with experience giving advice to others. The charity is also in need of food-sorters, administrators and someone with a large-ish car who can help transport food on Tuesdays.

Even if you don’t fit any of these descriptions, there are lots of other ways you can get involved, including holding your own collection party where you ask your friends each to bring a couple of food items that can be passed on to the charity.

So if you can rustle up a bit of seasonal goodwill, a donation of time or goods to our local Foodbank is a great way to help drive hunger out of the borough.

Hackney Foodbank
0207 2542464
info@hackney.foodbank.org.uk
hackney.foodbank.org.uk