Huge demand for food parcels
Food banks in North Lanarkshire had to deal with a surge in people needing emergency help to put food on the table during the coronavirus pandemic.
The number of food parcels dished out across Scotland to people in desperate need doubled during lockdown and Paul’s Parcels was amongst the independent food banks working even harder than usual to help prevent families and individuals going hungry.
The Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN) collated data from 45 organisations which operate 70 independent food banks across 20 local authority areas.
During April and May this year the number of three-day food parcels distributed was 32,000 each month, while in June the figure was just below the 30,000 mark. That compares to around 13,000 for these months during the previous year.
There are now real fears that things could be about to get much worse as the UK Government prepares to end its furlough scheme next month.
Gerry McCann of Paul’s Parcels, which operates from a shop unit in Dykehead in Shotts, witnessed a sharp rise in people needing their help.
He said:“We make up the parcels and deliver to most of our people fortnightly, and some weekly depending on their circumstances.
“Demand certainly did increase during the lockdown period. It has settled down a wee bit now but we are expecting it to rise again, and it could go up a fair bit with furlough coming to an end. We expect a lot of people to be losing their jobs.
“We are doing alright with supplies and getting plenty of donations. We had a lot of folk donating boxes for people who were shielding. I saw something recently that said that there are now three times as many food banks as there are McDonalds.”
Figures released by Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN) reveal that an incredible 183,000 food parcels were dished out by organisations across 20 Scottish local authority areas. Year-on-year from April 2019 to April this year the number of parcels distributed had increased by an incredible 141 per cent.
From February to February – before lockdown – it had only risen by five per cent, March to March was 36 per cent higher, but for the year from July to July it was 108 per cent higher than the figure the year before.