3,694 emergency food parcels handed out to kids in south Essex

John McKay, chairman of the Helping Hands Food Bank in Basildon, says he has had just two days off since March last year, with some families even being reduced to tears after receiving support.

Now, a new report by the Trussell Trust, which support a network of food banks across the area, has outlined how many thousands of children are going hungry.

Southend Foodbank, which is run by the trust, say certain wards have been hit the hardest - including the Kursaal, Milton and St Luke’s wards. They say even those in work are still not able to afford food.

Thousands of emergency food parcels were given out to children in south Essex during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the report, the Trussell Trust handed out 6,218 emergency food parcels in Southend between 2020 and 2021.

Of those, 2,784 went to children – which is the equivalent to 54 every week.

In Basildon, the trust handed out 2,042 emergency food parcels over the period. Of those, 910 went to children – the equivalent to 18 every week. Overall this was a ten per cent increase on the total number recorded the previous year.

But the Trussell Trust has warned its data does not come close to revealing the full scale of demand across the country, with unprecedented numbers of people being helped by other organisations that had sprung up during the pandemic.

Helping Hands

Mr McKay, from Helping Hands at Ballards Walk, an independent charity set up nine years ago, said: “We deal with a lot of families, most of which have little ones and are having a hard time feeding the kids.

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“It could even be they have five children, and are needing support.

“Our messenger is constantly full of people looking for food parcels. I’ve even had someone ringing me at 4am, realising they need food.

“We haven’t stopped. From March last year to January this year, we have given out 105,000 meals in total.

“It has been really hard work, and sadly there are still people out on the streets. Yesterday I had a full book of people coming in every ten minutes throughout the day.

“I’m out collecting from supermarkets seven days a week. It has been difficult, but we actually get people come in and start crying because you’ve given them so much food.”

Natasha Copus, project manager at Southend Foodbank, fears numbers could escalate as the blow of Covid-19 continues.

She said: “Furlough will end at some point and some business won’t re-open, so I know that will definitely put more pressure on.

“It is hard when you see families struggling.

“I’d imagine with all the groups that work to help those suffering, the actual situation is probably a lot bigger.

“The reasons people come to us are largely down to low income, sometimes they’re even in work and still can’t afford food.”

The Trussell Trust is now urgently calling on the Government to end the need for food banks “once and for all”.

Emma Revie, chief executive, said: “No one should face the indignity of needing emergency food. Yet our network of food banks has given out record numbers of food parcels as more people struggle without enough money for the essentials”

The charity is now urging the public to write to council candidates standing for election, asking them to commit to working to end the need for food banks if elected. It is also calling on the Government to develop a plan.

Sabine Goodwin, co-ordinator of the Independent Food Aid Network, said: “It’s the Government’s responsibility to stop hunger from happening in the first place so that everyone is able to afford to buy food.”

A Government spokesman said: “We are committed to supporting the lowest-paid families and have targeted support to those most in need by raising the living wage, spending hundreds of billions to safeguard jobs, boosting welfare support by billions, and introducing the £269m Covid Local Support Grant to help children and families stay well-fed. We know that getting into well-paid work is the best route out of poverty, and our multi-billion pound Plan for Jobs is helping people across the country re-join the workforce as restrictions are eased.”