Need for emergency food has increased ‘significantly’
Chichester District Foodbank has released its data for 2023 and expressed its aims for 2024.
In 2023, Chichester District Foodbankprovidedemergency food parcels for 6,654 people. This included 4,120 adults and 2,534 children and was a seven per cent increase compared to the previous year.
Campaign manager of the Chichester District Foodbank Laura Mcleod-turner revealed there had been an increase in families using the services. She said: “2023 was a busy year for us and we've continued to support people in the Chichester district.
"During the Christmas holidays, we received the highest number of child lunch food parcel requests that we've ever had. That was a big one for us. We really have seen a particular uplift in the number of families on low incomes we support with our Holiday Kids Lunch Pack scheme.
"Our Holiday Lunch Packs for kids are there to support families who usually rely on free school meals during term time by providing school holiday food parcels.
"In 2023 we distributed 2,883 holiday food parcels over the three major holidays. This is a 39 per cent increase compared to 2022.
“We've also started to do peer support groups as well, which started in 2023. We have a group every Tuesday called Stand Stronger Together which we’re going to continue building on in 2024. It’s brilliant because one of the things that we know from our clients is that people feel incredibly isolated and ashamed about struggling when it comes to needing a food bank.
"For them to know that people are not alone, and they're not the only person in that situation can be really empowering. So that's been great.”
When speaking about its aims for 2024 and what the Chichester District foodbank will be focusing on, the campaign manager spoke about a national campaign.
Laura Mcleod-turner said: “At the moment, we're directing people through to our guarantee our essentials campaign, which is a national campaign that we're supporting in our district. Many of our supporters, including the leader of the district council, has supported. And that is to guarantee that Universal Credit covers basic cost of living.”