Tomorrow's Sunday

IN the Minster this weekend we gave thanks for the harvest, and remembered all those who work on the land or sea.

We also collected a number of tins for ‘ One for the Basket’, the project that helps stock the food banks in Sunderland – thank you to everyone for supporting this important project.

There’s been a lot of news about food banks recently. The Trussell Trust reported that 350,000 people have made use of food banks since April, which is three times as many as last year.

There are other food banks in Sunderland ( as well as the Crisis Team at the city council), and four of them reported giving out an average of 30 parcels a week since April.

Why is this? Some reports are saying that people only use food banks because they are there. Others are blaming those who ask for needing them in the first place. Those of us who receive referrals, and talk to people who simply haven’t got enough to eat know that for the majority this is far from the truth.

There are many reasons why people are asking for this kind of help.

What is true is that it simply isn’t enough to provide food. We need to understand why there is such a great level of need and work to put an end to it.

God provides us with enough food for everyone; the challenge is to share it out fairly, and where better to begin than on our own doorstep?

Closing the food banks will be the right thing to do when we can be sure that no one will be seriously hungry in our city.

Meantime, please add ‘ one for the basket’ to your shopping if you can.