Amid hundreds of thousands of job losses since the start of the pandemic, it’s unsurprising that food banks and charities that support people in poverty have seen a surge in demand over the last few months.
The Greater Manchester Poverty Action Monitor reported that the number of people living in poverty in Greater Manchester has risen to 620,000, and the number of people claiming unemployment benefits rose by 93% between May and August.
In September, Manchester Evening News reported that the Manchester South Central Food Bank, which supports people in Hulme, Whalley Range, Old Trafford and Moss Side, had seen a 250% increase in demand in August compared to last year. Earlier in the year, they had seen a 400% increase.
In the lead up to Christmas, the food bank is gearing up to offer increased support to individuals and families living in poverty.
They have partnered with the Co-op to provide 500 food parcels which will be delivered over Christmas. This is alongside 180 school holiday hampers in partnership with primary schools to support vulnerable families and 80 hampers for the elderly community which includes treat items and activities like adult colouring in books.
Normally, on Christmas Day, like many food banks, Manchester South Central Food Bank would host a community Christmas meal to provide a meal and a sense of community for those with nowhere else to go.
Unfortunately, this year they are unable to provide that service and so they have created a Christmas dinner in a box which includes all the ingredients needed for people to cook a Christmas dinner along with a supermarket gift voucher to buy fresh meat.
Alongside food provisions, one of the biggest challenges for the food bank, especially around Christmas time, is the mental health and wellbeing of the people they support.
Manchester South Central Food Bank’s project manager Jo Warmington, said: “It isn’t just about feeding people, it’s about giving people a sense of community and company really at Christmas time, particularly for those people that are alone and don’t have support networks and family around.
“A big part of what we do is around signposting people and our aim is that somebody should only have to access – I mean people should never have to access a food bank – but when they do, we only want them to have to access it once or twice. And really part of our role is to help them access longer term support and advice services so they’re not trapped in poverty and they’re not having to rely on a food bank to feed themselves or their families.”
“I think now’s the time for us to be able to put a bit of pressure on the government to make sure that people have the money that they need to support themselves.
“We shouldn’t be relying on food banks to have to support people and families. The welfare systems should be able to do that. That was a challenge prior to Covid. I think what’s happened is Covid has just really highlighted it because a lot more people have been thrown into that poverty and that crisis.”
As well as food banks, charities that support those living in poverty and homelessness are struggling to keep up with the increasing demand.
Coffee4Craig provides vital support for Manchester’s homeless and people in crisis, operating an out-of-hours drop in service in the heart of Manchester city centre seven days a week, where they offer hot food, showers, food parcels, medical support and mental health crisis intervention.
In February, they had vacated the building as it needed to be refurbished, and so when lockdown first hit they were unable to offer many of their services.
Risha Lancaster, co-founder and general manager at Coffee4Craig said: “We were in full swing of the refurb when lockdown struck! As you can imagine, building slowed remarkably, many of our team had to shelter and we were left with two staff and a couple of volunteers to continue the refurb.
“We completed the majority of the refurb on our own.”
The building is now back up and running and Coffee4Craig is working with other charities and services to ensure it is used fully, as they only operate there on evenings and weekends.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the number of people living on the streets have been significantly less due to the Covid hotels providing accommodation and Andy Burnham’s A Bed Every Night scheme.
However, Coffee4Craig have noticed the numbers of people sleeping on the streets starting to creep up.
“I think this is probably due to the issues surrounding lockdown [for example] job losses, with new faces popping up regularly,” said Risha.
“The demand for food parcels has increased dramatically and people calling for help due to poverty has increased and of course we are still providing meals for the people in the hotels.”
Another Greater Manchester charity, Mustard Tree, aims to transform the lives of people in the region living in poverty and homelessness, by giving them the skills, opportunities and self confidence to reach their full potential.
The charity has community shops in Ancoats, Eccles and Little Hulton and provides a range of services for vulnerable people. This includes access to low cost food through their Food Club, as well as clothing and household essentials such as furniture, pots and pans. Mustard Tree also provides volunteering opportunities, vocational training, help finding work placements, creative programmes and wellbeing support.
Since the start of the pandemic, Mustard Tree’s monthly food costs have increased by more than six times, with more people than ever visiting the Food Club for support.
Jack Barton, communications manager at Mustard Tree said
“We went from supporting 500 clients a month to up to 1,000 a week at the height of lockdown, [both] through on-site Food Clubs and the delivery of food parcels to people self-isolating.
“Winter is always going to be tough, as this is the time of year where more people are relying on our services to make-up shortfalls in their finances, i.e. more people may need to use our Food Club as their heating costs increase, meaning they have less money to spend on food.
“This year has taken all that to another level, including much more people coming to us in crisis for emergency support.”
During the first lockdown, Mustard Tree delivered 14,500 food parcels, supported 4,648 families and gave 1,000 people living in extreme poverty food, toiletries and clothes.
While demand soared for food distribution, the charity had no choice but to stop the other services including community shop, on-site training and creative programmes.
“It turned the charity upside down,” said Jack.
Having to constantly adapt their model to meet the growing demand and stick to government guidance and restrictions has been a huge challenge for all of the charities.
This time around Mustard Tree are much more prepared to operate under lockdown. However, there is concern over the long term impact of the lack of a physical space on some of the people they work with.
Jack said: “There are a lot of people who are really suffering from mental health problems as a response to having to isolate. A lot of these people cannot access our online services due to lack of hardware, digital illiteracy etc. This is something we’re really concerned about.”
How you can help
Donations are vital to charities and food banks to continue delivering the support that they provide in communities.
What’s heart warming to see is that despite the challenges many are facing, the number of people wanting to donate is rising too.
Jo from Manchester South Central Food Bank said: “I guess one kind of positive of the situation this year, from my point of view I’ve really seen the response of the community and the absolute generosity of people both with their time and their money.
“We’ve had a lot of people offer their time to volunteer. We’ve had probably more donations than ever as well.”
Coffee4Craig, too, has been overwhelmed with messages of support and people wanting to donate.
Risha said: “Trying to juggle the balance of donations coming in the numerous messages and phone calls from people wanting to give us donations, which is amazing, but trying to ascertain what we need balanced with what some people want to give us, finding space for it all sort it all, and move it on is a full time job in itself!”
Last week, Stretford Food Bank announced that it is no longer accepting donations of food as they have been overwhelmed with support from the local community. Their website reads: “We are enormously grateful to the community of North Trafford for their fantastic support, especially over recent months.
“We understand that many in our community wish to collect on our behalf but our stocks are now very full as we approach Christmas and we are confident that we have enough to feed our clients over the coming weeks.”
Many food banks and charities of course still require donations so please don’t let this put you off giving. What’s important is to check with the organisation you wish to give to for what they need at any given time.
There are many ways you can give which include donations of money, food and volunteering time.
Jo said: “Donating food is always useful for us and we really rely on those donations of food and cash to keep the organisation going.
“When it comes to donating food, we always share on our social media our most needed items and I think that’s a great tip because sometimes food banks can end up with, for example, a mountain of pasta but no pasta sauce. It’s often specific items that we’re in need of.
“The other thing I would say is ongoing support is the most valuable. So if people are able to give a few pounds a month but every month, or a few tins but it’s every month.
“Christmas is always a time when you get lots of donations, but we also need to make sure that in January, in February, in March that we still get that support.”
You can find your nearest food bank on the Trussell Trust website, just make sure to check their website or social media to find out exactly what items they need.
Similar to the food bank, small monthly donations are vital to Mustard Tree and Coffee4Craig, as it means that they can attribute funds to where they are most needed within the charity each month.
Both charities also provide lists of items they need at any given time. Mustard Tree has a list of food they need on their website, while Coffee4Craig updates an Amazon Wishlist of items like clothing, coffee and toiletries.
If you’re able to give, whether that’s food, money or your time, please consider supporting some of these local charities on an ongoing basis.
As Jo from the food bank said, people shouldn’t have to rely on food banks to feed themselves. Similarly, food banks and charities shouldn’t have to rely on donations to survive. But the sad reality is that they do.
So, please consider giving whatever you can to help these organisations which support the most vulnerable members of our community to get the support they need during an incredibly challenging time.
Find your local food bank below and how to help
MANCHESTER FOOD BANKS
Manchester Central Food Bank
Currently requesting urgent food items, which you can find here.
Fallowfield and Withington Food Bank
They are currently collecting for seasonal sweets for disadvantaged children. This is their most recent update. You can also financially donate to this food bank here.
Manchester South Central
Urgently requesting tinned fruit and tinned foods. Information on how to donate is here.
Stretford Food Bank
The food bank is FULL but they are still updating on any support needed. You can find that here.
Salford Food Bank
The Salford Food Bank has some excessive quantities of some food items but is still requesting tinned fruit, potatoes, jars of jam – as well as financial donations and there’s information on how to volunteer here.
Mustard Tree – Homeless Charity
Mustard Tree has a list of food they need on their website.
Coffee4Craig – Manchester Homeless Charity
Coffee4Craig updates an Amazon Wishlist
LANCASHIRE FOOD BANKS
Blackpool Food Bank
If you would like to donate to Blackpool Food Bank, please get in touch via e-mail on info@blackpoolfoodbank.co.uk and they will get back to you with the relevant information.
Flyde Food Bank
Not currently looking for volunteers, information on how to donate financially and food donations they need can be found here.
Fleetwood Together
Fleetwood Together are currently looking for Christmas gift donations for families that are struggling at the moment. They are also potentially looking for drivers to help deliver food items.
Blackburn Food Bank
Blackburn Food Bank is requesting certain food items including tinned food, they are also looking for volunteers (warehouse, web editor and more) and also accepting financial donations. You can find all the information here.
Burnley Together
Are on the lookout for local services and volunteers, call 01282 686402 if you’d like to help. They are also currently running a Christmas Present appeal, which you find details of here.
Colne Foodback
Couldn’t find any details, will update when we know more.
Ribble Valley Food Bank
Are currently requesting a list of food items which can be found here. They are also currently looking for volunteers which you can find details of here.
Oswaldtwistle Food Bank
The food bank is ran by a collection of local churches, information is hard to find but if you’re wanting to help then we’d suggest looking here.
Rossendale Food Bank
The Rossendale Food Bank updates their Facebook page with donation requests, their latest appeal went out on Nov 21st and you can find it here, as well as information on where to donate.
Morecambe Bay Food Bank
The Morecambe Bay Food Bank has quite a long list of urgently needed food items, which you can find here. The food bank has over 80 volunteers and isn’t currently looking for any more. Financial donations are needed too.
Noor Food Bank – Preston
Preston’s Noor Foodbank has provided over 75,000 meals throughout the pandemic, you can follow them on Facebook here where they are most active. They are currently holding a Christmas food item fundraiser, details here.
Leyland Food Bank
All details can be found here.
Skelmersdale Food Bank
Currently requesting urgent food items that include pasta sauces, tinned food and more.
Ormskirk Food Bank
Currently requesting some urgent food items, no fresh or frozen food. They’re also requesting the support of volunteers in a number of roles that you can find here.
