Tunbridge Wells food bank say they are struggling with fewer donations

KentOnline / KMTV

More than 14 million people in the UK went hungry in the last year because of poverty, up by almost 2 and a half million people since 2022.  Alfie Rowe reports.

Transcript

00:00Bags, packed and ready to go. Norwich Foodbank's deliveries have served the community for over

00:09a decade, but their future is far from certain. Every day drivers come here to this warehouse

00:16and collect these food bags behind me to deliver to needy residents across Tombridge and Tombridge

00:21Wells. However, with the cost of living hitting food banks across Kent hard, there's concerns

00:26whether services like this can continue. The amount of food going out to customers is going

00:32up, the amount of donations we're getting in is generally going down, which is probably

00:37a sense of what's happening in society at the moment. The future looks unsure, I think. I

00:43think we've been in the position before where donations have been low, demand has been high,

00:49but we've always kind of known there might be light at the end of the tunnel. I think

00:55for the first time, I'm unsure.

00:58But this is just one part of a larger problem. According to the charity Trussell Trust, food

01:04bank demand is growing across the region, with one in eight households in the South East now

01:09experiencing food insecurity, a statistic driven by poverty.

01:13Low income is one of the main drivers as to why people are accessing support from food banks.

01:21So it could be individuals or families who are just perhaps who are receiving universal credit,

01:26but who for whom universal credit isn't enough. We're calling for the government to reverse

01:33the two child limit and also to up rent renters allowance in line with with the local housing

01:40allowance as well, because we're seeing that as a big factor with increasing rents for people

01:45across the South East, across Kent in particular.

01:49As for comment, the government said,

01:51we are determined to tackle the unacceptable rise in food bank dependency. While food bank

01:55use went down last year, we want to do more. In addition to extending free school meals and

02:00ensuring the poorest children don't go hungry in the holidays with one billion pounds to reform

02:04crisis support, our child poverty task force will publish an ambitious strategy later this

02:09year. But keeping the shelves full requires us all to give a helping hand or a can.

02:16I do believe that if everybody donated something small, that would keep us going and other food

02:21banks. Alfie Rowe for KMTV in Tunbridge Wells.

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