A South Belfast foodbank has said that the cost of living crisis is having a huge impact on people in the city as it issues a call for support ahead of the summer holidays.
The South Belfast Foodbank, which is part of the Trussell Trust network, has been operating since 2014 in the city and said that the past year has seen a large spike in demand for their services as families are struggling to afford to heat and electricity in their homes.
It says that new people are coming to the foodbank every week, with many having to be signposted to other services as they try to find ways of getting financial support for their bills.
Read more: Cost-of-living crisis: Rising costs "worse than Covid" for hospitality as NI restaurants close
Speaking to Belfast Live, Bruce Gardiner-Crehan, said that more needs to be done to help people through the cost of living crisis and that it is necessary for the Executive and Assembly to get back up and running.
He said: "Over the past few months we have seen more and more people coming to use in need of help and worrying about how they are going to afford to eat and pay their bills every week.
"Young families and single people tend appear to be the groups who are really struggling the most and something needs to be done to provide more support for them through this cost of living crisis.
"More and more people are coming in looking for financial assistance, which is sadly something we are unable to offer, but we are signposting them in the right direction to other services that could help them. Although each one of our food parcels could contain between £40-£50 worth of food and sundry items such as nappies, detergent and pet food, which can allow people to spend their money in other ways that they need to.
"We need to have the Executive back up and running so that proper assistance can be provided to help people through this because there are thousands of people who are having a very tough time."
Bruce said that the foodbank is now moving back to one to one appointments with users and moving away from deliveries, with this allowing people to choose exactly what they need each week.
Ahead of the summer holidays it is asking the South Belfast community to offer them some additional support, with it partnering with two local Tescos at Newtownbreda and the Lisburn Road from Thursday, June 30 to Saturday, July 2, where customers will be encouraged to pick up an extra item or two to drop in special donation trollies on the way out of store.
The collection has been organised by Tesco who will generously top up customers’ food donations with a financial donation of 20% of the value of the items donated, which will support South Belfast Foodbank in the provision of emergency food parcels and practical support.
Customers being asked to donate essential items of long-life food such as UHT Milk and UHT Juice, and Tinned Fish and Tinned Fruit.
Bruce continued: "No-one in South Belfast should be facing hunger and we want to see an end to local people needing emergency food at all. While we work alongside other food banks in the Trussell Trust network to bring about long-term change to ensure everyone has enough money for the essentials, any donations of our most-needed items will be invaluable.
“Thanks to Tesco and the generosity of its customers, we hope to continue to offer vital support to families and children over the coming months, which will know will be particularly tough for many people in the local area.”
The Trussell Trust, which supports a nationwide network of over 1,300 food bank centres including South Belfast Foodbank, has seen long term increases in numbers of emergency food parcels distributed to people who are facing hardship.
Food banks in its network provided over 2.1 million emergency food parcels in the last year, with over 800,000 of these given for children. As soaring living costs continue to put pressure on families, food banks help make sure that people in crisis get the support they need over the summer period, and beyond.
Emma Revie, chief executive of the Trussell Trust, said: “As the cost of living crisis continues to bite, food banks are doing all they can to help meet the extra financial pressures that families are facing. But for many people, the coming months will be a particularly tough period as they struggle to cover the basic costs of living such as bills, food and other essentials.
“Food banks in our network always work incredibly hard to ensure that people facing hardship get support – but we have sadly seen need accelerate over the recent months. Food banks are calling on the public to support them by donating food to support people unable to afford life’s essentials.
“No one should have to go without something as essential as food, but I have no doubt that the generosity of Tesco customers and colleagues this summer will once again help food banks provide the best possible help to families facing hunger today, while working towards a future where everyone can afford the essentials in life – like food.
“Thank you for your generosity - together we can make a difference.”
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