Food banks issue warning over fuel and food poverty

“They don’t know how these people live and how soul destroying and miserable it is for them.”

That’s the message from one community food project whose customers are facing extreme poverty.

Staff at the facilities in Turlin Moor and Hamworthy have been left fearing the worst as pandemic generosity begins to dry up despite facing the busiest week on record.

Nicki Searle, Hamworthy satellite food bank manager said: “When you think of all the good intentions at the start of the pandemic, everyone clubbed together and donations for the food bank went up - but none of that lasted and we’re not even through it yet.

“It’s sad. People seem to have short memories.”

Worried about the future for people facing fuel and food poverty amid the rising cost of living and looming April energy price hike, Nicki said: “It shows that the rulemakers are out of touch with what’s going on at grassroots level.

“They don’t know how these people live and how soul destroying and miserable it is for them.”

Moor Community Store saw its busiest week on record with 78 people visiting the pop-up shop (plus deliveries) where they can fill a bag of food for a donation of £2.50.

With the rise in numbers and more than 300 members on the books, Moor Community Store co-ordinator Mel Meadowcroft said: “It is a worry what’s going to happen in the future.

“The highest numbers of visitors aren’t sustainable.

“At Christmas you find people want to give more, but it doesn’t last long.”

Read more: "It’s just crazy": Visitors to food banks reveal real reasons people are forced to go

She added: “The government won’t do enough to help, they’ve known all of this is coming and they give you enough to sound good I think but it never goes far enough to help.”

Jo Maybury, community store volunteer, said: “Recently, because of the whole thing with energy bills, we’ve seen a real rise and it’s quite worrying.

“We’ve come out of what we thought was the crisis but actually we’re seeing we’ve not got to the end really.”

“That April deadline is going to be huge,” she added.

“When bills start hitting that’s when the caps will come off and I can see a big step change at that point and really, I don’t know if we can cope.”

Facing an uncertain future, the community food projects are urging members of the public that are able to donate, to do so.