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Cardiff Foodbank fears for busiest summer ever!

16th July 2019

Appeal for donations as Cardiff Foodbank fears for busiest summer ever with increased food bank need during school holidays.

Cardiff Foodbank is asking local people to check what donations are most needed in the area, as they prepare for a busy summer with increased need during the school holidays.

In previous years, the rise in the number of families struggling to stretch their money to cover the summer break has left Cardiff Foodbank’s stocks running low for certain items. Now the charity has launched an appeal for food donations ahead of the holidays this year to ensure they can continue to offer emergency help in the community to people in crisis.

In the last financial year, the food bank, which is part of the Trussell Trust’s network, provided 13248 three day emergency food supplies to people in need. Of these 5041 went to children.

While donations are vital for helping families during the coming weeks, the Cardiff Foodbank has stressed food banks are not a long-term solution, and more must be done to ensure people have enough money for essentials like food.

The charity is now backing calls by the Trussell Trust for the Government to tackle delays and gaps in benefits, which affect families’ ability to afford essentials, as a first priority. This includes ending the five week wait for a first Universal Credit payment, a key driver of increasing need at food banks in the Trussell Trust’s network.

More locally, the food bank is urging local families to seek help if they are struggling to afford food this summer, and asks local people able to donate to support their work in the community.

Helen Bull, (Cardiff Foodbank Manager), explains:

“No one in the Cardiff area should need a food bank’s help and we want to see an end to local people needing emergency food at all. But more and more people are finding that their income simply won’t stretch to meet the extra pressure of missing free school meals or paying for extra childcare during the holidays.

“We know it doesn’t have to be like this. We’re determined to work alongside other food banks in the Trussell Trust’s network to bring about long-term change to end hunger not only during the holidays, but at any time of year.

“While we work in the long-term to tackle the reasons why people don’t have enough money, help is here in Cardiff. We’re able to offer this crucial support to local people because of the community’s help – we rely on local donations to run the food bank. Any donations of our most-needed items will be invaluable this summer.”

 The foodbank is most in need of the following items:

  • Long life fruit juice
  • UHT Milk
  • Rice puddings
  • Sponge puddings
  • Tinned potatoes
  • Tinned Tomatoes
  • Tinned fish

For up-to-date lists of urgently needed food, and information about where donations can be left and to contact the foodbank about possible collection points, visit www.cardiff.foodbank.org.uk or search Facebook or Twitter ‘Cardiff Foodbank’ or ‘#cardifffoodbank’

Media Contact:

Helen Bull – (Cardiff Foodbank Manager) can be reached on [email protected] or 029 2048 4120

Notes

Cardiff Foodbank:

  • Cardiff Foodbank has been providing three days emergency food and support to local people since 2009
  • 134 tonnes of food were donated by the local community between April 2018 – March 2019
  • For more info, visit cardiff.foodbank.org.uk

Cardiff Foodbank is part of the Trussell Trust network. For UK-wide Trussell Trust food bank statistics visit https://www.trusselltrust.org/news-and-blog/latest-stats/ .

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