Food bank uses reserve account as demand rises

Several food banks in the south-west of England say they are seeing a big rise in demand for their services, and one charity is using reserve funds to pay for extra food.

DISC in Newquay, Cornwall, said the number of people using its service had gone up by 50% in the last year, from 2,000 to 3,000.

Monique Collins, who runs the service, said: "There are more and more people using our food services, and the scary thing is that the majority of them are working families."

She said each week the charity was topping up food and money donations with funds from a reserve account to meet demand.

She said: "We are seeing a huge increase in the number of working people that are just not able to make ends meet because everything has gone up in price, the rent, the mortgage and household bills.

"They just can't afford to live.

"It is very worrying to be honest with you.

"We have two accounts. We have an account to pay our items from, and we have a buffer account.

"Last year we had £60,000 in our buffer account, and now it's down to £10,000."

A woman, who relies on DISC and wants to remain anonymous, said: "I do not know what I would do without it.

"I have never relied on anybody for anything, even when I became disabled and ill.

"I sorted everything out myself and at this point in my life to be relying on a food bank and be in temporary accommodation, it is heart-wrenching, it is really hard."

A second Cornish charity, Truro Foodbank, said donations to its service had fallen, but demand continued to increase.

Manager, Simon Fann, said: "When I started five years ago Truro Foodbank fed about 2,300 people a year.

"Last year, we fed about 5,400 people and over the last six months food donations have dropped by five tonnes.

"To bridge the gap, we have to buy core food and that's costing us £2,500 a month, to make sure we can keep the doors open."

In Devon, at the Ivybridge Foodbank, Karen Fitzgerald, who helps run the service, said they were also experiencing high demand.

She said: "It has been incredibly challenging with a massive increase in people."

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