Cost of living crisis: Mosque food bank capacity rises

A mosque which operates a food bank has doubled its size as people struggle with the cost of living crisis.

Following renovations, the Al-Ikhlas mosque and food bank in Cardiff will be able to store more donations and hand out double the number of food parcels.

Staff said they can now "help more people" as the imam told BBC Wales demand in the area is up.

Another food bank in Pontyclun, Rhondda Cynon Taf, said its user numbers were "starting to spiral out of control".

A new wing of the Al-Ikhlas, in the Adamsdown, Cardiff, which has grown from an Arabic learning centre to a place of prayer, opens on Friday in a three-storey building next door.

It means Muslim women in the area will have their own space to pray for the first time.

But the mosque has also been running its food bank at capacity, donating 200 food parcels a week to Muslims and non-Muslims in need.

More food can be stored safely in the new building and staff hope they will be able to hand out up to 400 food parcels a week.

"I am happy to be supporting the food bank by donating from my restaurant in Barry, [Vale of Glamorgan]," said restaurateur Mohammed Maybu Rahman.

"We have a bigger space to pray but more importantly for the wider community, as we have a food bank here, it means we can store more food and help more people," said Ali, an engineering student and Al-Ikhlas catering staff member.

Imam Ali, the lead imam of the mosque, said the need for its food bank has been increasing and it now hopes to be able to meet the demand.

Across Wales, the Trussell Trust said in the year to March 2022 it gave out 131,232 emergency food parcels, including more than 48,500 parcels for children.

The Taff Ely foodbank in Pontyclun said its demand has doubled over the last year, from 82 vouchers issued in June 2021 to 166 last month.

"These figures are starting to spiral out of control," said the charity's project manager Andrew Butcher. "With food prices soaring, fuel costs rising, you know people are having to make the difficult decision of putting food on the table, or paying the bills."

Mr Butcher said some of his food bank users were having to choose between having the internet, so their children can do their homework, or putting food on the table.

"There are more and more people every day turning to food banks," he said.

He predicted that the upcoming six-week school holiday will be difficult for many families.

"These are desperate times for a lot of people," he said, explaining most of his volunteers were older people who had "lived through depressions and tough times.

"They see in this now as a whole, different ballgame," he said.