A Lanarkshire foodbank has recorded the busiest year in its existence as it sees a massive 21 percent increase in the number of people needing emergency food packages.
Rutherglen and Cambuslang foodbank provided emergency food for a total of 7,233 people, 5,007 adults and 2,226 children in the past year, which equates to 21 percent more than the previous year.
The foodbank opened in 2014 and in its first year saw 2,190 people attend for help, but in the last nine years, they have seen a threefold increase in the need for emergency food within the community.
Foodbank Manager, Katharina Nimmo, notes that they are managing with the current number, but may struggle if it continues to grow at the same rate.
She said: “We are very fortunate that we have amazing support within the community, and an amazing group of volunteers, so we can meet the demand.
“It can get quite frantic. In one two-hour session, we had 52 people attending, which was overwhelming.
“The support from the community keeps us going because we totally rely on food and money donations.
“If the number grows as it has been, we may not be able to meet the demand. We are hoping it won’t be at the same rate, but we are taking it as it comes.”
The group received 88 tonnes of food donations and a wonderful amount of money donations in the last year, and are incredibly grateful to the community and the Rutherglen Baptist Community Church, the Bethlehem Romanian Pentecostal Church in Cambuslang and the Whitlawburn Resource Centre for facilitating them four times a week.
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