‘If someone had told me last year I’d be using a food bank, I wouldn’t have believed them’
Helena Vesty talks to people who have struggled during the pandemic – and hears how grateful they are for these lifelines
“IF someone had told me I’d be using a food bank this time last year, I’d have never believed them,” says single mum-of-three Sarah. “I’ll survive on hot drinks and whatever the kids don’t eat. It’s not nice. I never expected to be in that position. I was comfortable and everything just changed overnight.’
Every year, touching stories emerge of families celebrating getting through rough patches with the help of volunteers at Greater Manchester’s food banks. But 2020 has been different.
Over the last nine months, coronavirus has caused an endless stream of catastrophes.
Unsurprisingly, the pandemic has seen the number of people needing food banks to survive to soar, according to volunteers who man them day in, day out.
Beneath the masks, the people who are walking through the food bank doors are not those volunteers are used to seeing.
And they are arriving in numbers that were previously unimaginable.
Food bank staff say many of these people are those who’ve been made redundant and are stuck with nothing in the six-week waiting period after applying for Universal Credit for the first time in their lives.
They tell of single dads on lowwage incomes that mean being put on furlough at 80 per cent leaves them unable to feed their two little boys, and of 15-year-old girls accompanied by their teachers because they have become the sole carers for their shielding parents who are unable to get to the shops or work.
Sarah, a single mum-of-three from Bolton, has bravely shared the story of her year from hell with the M.E.N.
In March, 30-year-old Sarah and her three little ones, all under the age of seven, were getting by with her job as a cleaner and some healthy savings.
The young family had a happy, normal life. Treats at the weekend, trips out and about in the car.
Then lockdown hit. All three children were out of school and nursery, at home. Sarah, not her real name, cannot ask grandma, who is shielding, to babysit while she is at work. Her employer has other people that can fill her hours right away.
Out of options, the mum is forced to give up her job.
“I am a single parent. I’ve got family but not close by, it’s a good 45 minutes away. I just didn’t have the childcare that would have been there for me to continue to work once lockdown came.
“I tried everything to sort out a way to stay in work. I used up all my holidays. But it was a small-ish company and other people were there to fill my shoes. From the company’s point of view, it was a case of as long as the job got done, they didn’t really care.
“Before the lockdown, when I was working, I was by no means rich, I didn’t have a lot of money - but I was comfortable. I had spare money after bills, shopping, running a car, internet.”
But come autumn, Sarah had used up all of her savings and things were getting very tight.
By the time she is able to get a new job, when restrictions had slackened slightly and the children were going back to school, she finds herself ‘at the bottom of the pile’.
Sarah is among thousands of people who have also ended up out of work because of the pandemic, many of whom are now living with kids that could be sent straight back home at any moment if there is a Covid-19 outbreak in class.
“A lot of the jobs that were available before are now being taken by people who would not necessarily have taken them before. My skill set and qualifications leave me down the pile,” she explains.
“Then I have to find something that I can work around my children. Say if I get a job that runs 9am to 5pm, I have to make sure that it financially covers afterschool care, because I will need that for the kids while I’m working.
“It’s not as simple as when people say ‘there’s loads of jobs, go get a job.’ Being a single parent, it’s not that easy.”
After months of fighting for every penny, she has nothing.
Sarah has to find out how to get onto Universal Credit for the first time in her life, and is referred to the Farnworth and Kearsley Food Bank at Farnworth Baptist Church.
“To lose that job and to be fully reliant on benefits, it was a big wake up call,” she says.
“I managed to stretch out what I have saved for a while, but the things you take for granted, we have not had for a few months now because I’ve got that little coming in.
“I’ve had to give up my car, cancel my phone contract, TV licence, I have had to cancel our internet because they are just luxuries.
“I never looked at them as luxuries before because I was always comfortable enough. I never had to worry if I’ve got enough left for gas, electricity, nappies and milk to last me. Now it’s all I think about.
“Because I have three children I’m subject to a two-child cap with my Universal Credit, I only get paid for two of the children. That in itself has been hard.
“If someone had told me I’d be in this situation this time last year, I’d have never believed them - to the point where I’m having to ask for help for food, to provide for my children which I never, ever thought I’d have to do. I’m in tears now, talking about it.”
The Farnworth and Kearsley Food Bank has seen an influx of people just like Sarah. People who were once in stable work and now are not.
Food bank manager and longtime community worker, Mark Whittington, says this new trend is not unique to Bolton - it’s happening across the country.
“Since lockdown, and this is reflected nationally, around 50 per cent of people we now see have never come to a food bank before.
“We are seeing lots of people who have lost their jobs, lots of people on zero-hour contracts that are now not getting any work, lots of self-employed people, and lots of young families.
“Recently, our food bank has been helping out two selfemployed builders that would have been earning a good wage, but their work has been cut right down and they have now had to claim Universal Credit.
“It shows that it’s not just a small set of people, it’s a huge amount of
people from diverse backgrounds.”
Mark, 46, leads a team of 50 volunteers at the food bank after years of being involved in charities across Greater Manchester.
By the end of the financial year, volunteers say they are expecting to have helped at least 4,000 people over 12 months – a rise of more than 300 on the year before.
Data from hunger charity the Trussell Trust, which helps to run a nationwide network of food banks including the Farnworth and Kearsley centre, also shows that the increase in the number of people in desperate need of help is a national phenomenon.
The trust’s ‘Impact of Covid-19 on Food Banks’ report states: “The economic and social consequences of the pandemic have driven historic levels of need for food banks in the Trussell Trust network. The level of increased need recorded in April 2020 meant that was the busiest month ever up to that point in time. Emerging evidence from the network indicates that levels of need have continued to be extremely high in the ensuing months.
“Between April and June 2020, 99,300 households needed support from a food bank in the Trussell Trust network for the first time.”
Although the furlough scheme worked for some people, Mark says other people have been ‘left behind’ during the pandemic.
“The furlough scheme was great for people in traditional employment but it leaves the people not in those jobs behind,” adds Mark.
“We’re expecting a continued increase of people coming to use the food bank.
“November and December is traditionally a busy time for us anyway, it has dramatically increased this year as people are continuing to lose their jobs.”
Sarah waited until she had nothing left before asking for help.
“Going to the food bank, I well up. You just feel like a failure,” she says.
“When you think about food banks and the kind of people you believe use them, you never think that will be you. It took me a long time to admit to myself that I am in the position where I need to use a food bank.
“I’ve only been twice so far. I’ve been trying to manage and struggle in between.
“What comes with that is days and days where I go without to make sure there is enough for the kids. I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I don’t have any hobbies.
“I’ll survive on hot drinks and whatever the kids don’t eat. It’s not nice. I never expected to be in that position. I was comfortable and everything just changed overnight.” Thankfully, the feeling of shame is replaced with relief once Sarah walks away from the food bank with supplies in hand.
“It is a massive, massive lift off your shoulders. To know that you’ve got enough in so when the kids ask ‘can I have another biscuit?’, you’re not thinking to yourself that there’s only enough to allow one a day.
“Going to the food bank has been a huge help, and it took a lot of courage for me to ask, to swallow my pride.”
For others at the Farnworth and Kearsley Food Bank getting their parcels to see them through the Christmas season, it’s not just this year that has been hard.
Brian, from Farnworth, has suffered with schizophrenia for decades, which left him struggling to do the basics he needs to survive.
Two years ago, Brian, again not his real name, went on to some new medication that helped him get his life back on track.
His doctor referred him to the Farnworth Baptist Church food bank in Trafford Street to ease some of the stress of a life lived through crippling mental health challenges.
During his final collection at the food bank before Christmas Day, on December 23, Brian tells us that he tries to avoid using it until he’s ‘absolutely desperate’, instead trying to get by through scrimping and saving benefit payments.
The 62-year-old explains that the food he gets at the church will last him for six days - seeing as he’s got used to only eating one full meal a day over the years.
“I only eat one meal a day. I have a meal at teatime, then I’ll have some Weetabix for my supper when I take my medication. I have to take it with food,” he says.
Sarah says although it has been tough, she’s hopeful there’s an end in sight.
She adds: “I know this is not going to be like this forever. That keeps me going.
“I’m a hard worker. I’ll do anything and everything to get back to where I was.
“If you’ve not got hope, you’ve got nothing.”
I never expected to be in that position. I was comfortable and everything changed overnight
Sarah