Cost of living: Hackney Foodbank launches emergency appeal

A London foodbank has launched an emergency appeal as demand for its services soars amidst the cost of living crisis.

Hackney Foodbank has gone from spending £2,000 a year on food in 2017, to £4,000 a week.

The charity hopes to raise £100,000 to keep helping those in need of food.

Chief executive Pat Fitzsimons said the current situation was "the toughest time in living memory", and appealed to the public to help in any way they can.

The amount of items donated to the foodbank has fallen just as demand for its services rises, with a growing number of families in the borough struggling to make ends meet.

"Food donations are half what they were last year and we're feeding twice as many people as we were before the pandemic," Ms Fitzsimons said.

She added donations were so low the team was "having to shop for food - we're spending an average of £4,000 per week - that's what we used to spend in a year".

The charity is expecting to spend £125,000 this year to meet demand, but next year that figure is estimated to reach £250,000.

The centre has been a lifeline for Donna Hayhow, who is a single mum to her 15, 16 and 25-year-old children and now has three grandchildren to care for too.

She said "pure desperation" from the rising cost of living and expenses like food, gas and electric, led her to seek help from the foodbank, and she would be "lost without them".

"It is literally hand to mouth at the moment, so I'm really grateful that we've got places like this that are available for people to get food because I've been really struggling," she said.

Former window cleaner Michael Monaghan told the BBC he came to rely on the foodbank during lockdowns when he lost work, and now uses it weekly.

"I had a great business, but when the pandemic came... I lost my work overnight," he said.

"I found myself poorer than I've ever been in my life," Mr Monaghan continued, adding: "I've not had prolonged poverty, so I just found foodbanks were really helpful.

"Sometimes you've just got to find the backbone in you, find a way through it and know there is light at the end of the tunnel."

Demand at the foodbank has become so high that the organisation, which distributes food parcels from its centres in Hoxton, Dalston and Upper Clapton, has even had to expand services further and start opening on Friday nights to reach those who are working during the day.

Ms Fitzsimmons said: "The people we help are destitute. We're seeing adults and children who are malnourished, we're hearing from schools where children have empty lunchboxes, where teachers are buying food for pupils and children's teeth are rotting because their families can't afford toothbrushes or toothpaste.

"We dream of a world where food banks aren't required, but until then we urgently need the public to pledge to our emergency appeal to ensure nobody goes hungry this year."

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