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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Emma Lawson

Lanarkshire foodbank 'drowning' under pressure to keep families fed

A Lanarkshire foodbank is "drowning" under the pressure of trying to make sure people have enough food to put on the table.

Loaves and Fishes, located on Kelvin Industrial Estate in East Kilbride placed an urgent Facebook appeal pleading for people to help them as they were running low on food.

The charity is barely holding on due to the increase of living costs that have caused donations to dry up and is urging people to donate if they can.

Lesley Davidson, the coordinator of Loaves and Fishes, told Lanarkshire Live: “All food banks are struggling. A lot of people that use us are struggling with the cost of living going up.

"The increase in energy bills, food and fuel prices has just been a nightmare.

"A huge percentage of people who use food banks are people like you and me, who are just struggling to make ends meet.

“I was having sleepless nights over how we were going to keep going. It’s a real worry.

“The thing is we’re not a huge charity. We survive on the loyalty of the people who know us.

“Since we put out the appeal on Facebook, we’ve had a lot of people replying to us, it’s been such a great response.

"We don’t usually ask for help, but we were really struggling. We were getting to the point where we were going to have to reduce the size of the food parcels.

“We do around 150 food parcels every week and we try and do a once a week top up with things like toiletries or tea bags and sugar.”

The team of 30 volunteers that help run the organisation offer weekly appointments, so that food parcels can be made in advance.

Volunteers can also offer advice and long-term support to those using the service.

Lesley added: “The community response has been great, and we hope that if we can take away the worry about how people are going to get food then they can focus on something else for a little while.

“We don’t really get much help from the Government, enough though we provide food parcels to the NHS and social services, but Morrisons in Lindsayfield helps us.

“We want people to know we appreciate that they come and help us.

"I know we are all struggling. We just don’t have any choice. Please help us continue to be there for those who need us."

The group was originally set up as a street meal program in Glasgow but changed to focus on becoming a food bank due to high demand.

The foodbank is still currently appealing for pot noodles, rice, biscuits, pasta, and many more items.

The charity is asking anyone one who is able to donate to contact them via Facebook for a list of foods they desperately need.

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