When volunteers at a new charity handed out their first emergency food parcel they never imagined there would still be a need for it nine years later.
West Dunbartonshire Community Foodshare (WDCF) launched in response to tough benefit sanctions – believing it would be required for around a year.
During those first 12 months, they handed out 1,804 food bags to those in desperate need.
But nine years on, the demand has never been greater – with that figure rocketing to 24,500 in 2020 alone.
The charity fear the cost of living crisis is going to spike even further with people, who have never had to use the service before, contacting them every single day.
They have also seen a reduction in the amount of food donations handed in at donation points, saying it it likely due to those who would usually donate also feeling the pinch.
Manager Clair Coyle said: “For the last few years, we have seen the devastating effects of benefit sanctions, benefit reforms, Brexit, Covid-19, and we are now seeing the cost of living increase to devastating levels.
“There are significant cost increases with food, gas and electricity, council tax, rent, mortgage payments, national insurance contributions – the list is endless.
“We are not seeing wages or benefits rising in line with this. Many local people are struggling and very, very worried.
“Each day we have new people contacting us for support who have never had to use our service before. We are now supporting many more people who are in work, but unable to meet their household costs each month.
“This is a horrendous time for many local people.
“Over the last year, we have all heard the term ‘eat or heat’ used widely.
“Just this morning, I read the term ‘starve or freeze’ in a newspaper report. It is appalling that this is actually happening in our community.”
Last week, the Lennox Herald reported how another local foodbank charity – Food For Thought – told how some struggling residents have turned away free food as they can’t afford the fuel to heat them up.
The organisation, based in Dumbarton’ s Artizan Centre, has also seen a rise in the numbers of people seeking help and reported at the start of March that they had fed 1,000 people in the space of just three weeks.
WDCF has expanded its range of services over the years and now also run a school uniform bank, Christmas toybank, school holiday brunch bag and fuel poverty project in addition to the emergency food parcels.
Clair urged anyone in need to reach out, explaining that each person receives tailored support to meet their individual needs.
She said: “We receive donations from local people, businesses and organisations who are donating to support people who have no money and no food and we ensure that anyone requesting support is in this situation and donations meet their intended purpose.
“We work closely with the Citizens Advice Bureau and Working 4U teams to provide additional support for those affected by poverty. Once we establish the reasons for food insecurity, we can refer individuals to these services to seek support to address the issue.
“We ultimately look to provide a period of practical support to people while these partner organisations help to move people out of poverty by addressing issues such as debt and benefit
problems.
“We have seen many successes for local people due to this partnership, but we feel the next year will be extremely challenging for many and we will utilise this partnership to help as many people as possible.”
The charity now delivers all emergency food parcels directly to those in need after changing the way it operates when the pandemic hit.
Clair said: “The arrival of Covid-19 in March 2020 forced us to close our distribution centres and move to a delivery-only method. With the logistics of the delivery service in place, the board of trustees decided to continue with this method once lockdowns ended, as it is a much more dignified way of supporting people.
“We never did feel comfortable with anyone waiting publicly in a queue at a community centre to access food support.”
Clair thanked members of the public for their overwhelming support over the last nine years, saying the generosity and thoughtfulness have ensured they could help those in desperate situations.
She added: “We do not look at the number of years we have been running, or the high number of people we have supported as a success – rather, we see a very worrying trend of our government not caring enough about how badly people are suffering and not doing anything to stop this trend.
“Please, if you are struggling, have no money or food, get in touch with us.
“And please, if you can help us to help others, get in touch with us to discuss.”
With an uncertain and worrying year ahead, WDCF is encouraging residents who can to get behind them more than ever.
They have several ways in which you can help.
• Donations of ambient food items can be dropped in any of their donation trolleys within local shops and supermarkets, or dropped off at our base during opening hours (they also accept fresh/frozen items when dropped off to their base).
• Supermarket online deliveries can be sent directly to them, Tuesday to Friday, 10am – 4pm.
• Monetary donations can be made direct to the charity account or dropped off at their base – sort code 60-01-73 and account number 00219638
•Unit 21, Leven Valley Enterprise Centre, Castlehill, Dumbarton, G82 5BN. They can also claim Gift Aid on monetary donations – get in touch to find out how to sign up to this.
• By fundraising – get in touch with them with your ideas. The charity’s emergency food parcels accommodate for special and restricted diets and contain enough food for one week, with fresh and frozen foods, fruit and veg, as well as ambient food
items.
Anyone affected by poverty can get in touch with the charity, which is open Tuesday to Friday, between 10am and 4pm, and can be contacted by phoning 01389 764135 or freephone 0800 345 7050.
