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Food bank charity launches first-ever emergency appeal after using up all ‘reserve stock’

The Trussell Trust is warning of its "hardest winter yet" as it says its food banks are "struggling to meet a tsunami of demand".

Emily Sergeant - 20th October 2022

The UK’s leading food bank charity has launched an emergency appeal for the first time in its history to meet a “devastating rise in need”.

With the rising cost of living crisis sadly continuing to make its impact felt nationwide, and inflation currently at a 40-year UK high, The Trussell Trust is warning of its “hardest winter yet” as it says its food banks up and down the country are “struggling to meet a tsunami of demand” – which was now outstripping donations.

The charity says it has already used up the “reserve stock” that would normally help maintain supplies across the winter months at its 1,300 food bank centres.

Food banks are having to purchase three times as much food as they did last year, according to the charity, and on top of that, the trust has distributed 46% more emergency food parcels in August and September than at the same time in 2021.

The Trussell Trust is now calling on the government to “do what’s right” by providing a package of support that’s “directly targeted at people on the lowest incomes”.

Launching the emergency appeal and urging the government to lend a hand, Emma Revie – CEO of The Trussell Trust – said: “We never wanted to run an appeal like this, we would rather there was no need for food banks at all, but right now, they are on the frontline of this cost of living emergency and we have no other option.

“Faced with the perfect storm of rising energy prices, inflation and a potential recession that is pushing people deeper into poverty, the soaring cost of living is driving a tsunami of need to food banks.

“Through this emergency appeal, we hope to raise the vital funds required to ensure that food banks can meet this devastating rise in need”.

Ms Revie says the trust’s main aim is to “continue to support people experiencing hardship.”

Read more:

• Cost of living crisis meant one million UK adults went an ‘entire day without food’ last month
• Some UK hospitals have had to set up foodbanks for NHS staff in need
• 2,600 emergency food parcels were provided for children every day during pandemic

The Trussell Trust’s first-ever emergency appeal comes after recent research by consumer group Which? has revealed that millions of families are having to change their shopping and eating habits as they struggle with rising costs.

Among those struggling the most, 50% even admitted their household was skipping meals.

Featured Image – The Trussell Trust