We need your help!

Antrim Foodbank is urging the local community to help support people on the lowest incomes this winter.

The food bank is part of the Trussell Trust’s network – which is warning food banks face the hardest winter yet as their network prepares to provide a predicted 1.3 million emergency food parcels across the UK in the next six months, including half a million for children.

The Trussell Trust network has experienced a dramatic increase in levels of need that has led to them distributing 46% more emergency food parcels over any August and September in previous years. This means that for the first time ever the gap between donations and food being distributed is widening and many food banks have already used up the reserve stock that would normally help them get through winter.

As local people across Antrim continue to face the soaring cost of living, many on the lowest incomes are being pushed to need the food bank’s help. The food bank urgently needs donations of money and non-perishable items, particularly:

• Long Life Skimmed Milk
• Tinned fruit
• Tinned Rice Pudding
• Tinned Meals
• Jam

The easiest way to give is to visit the food bank’s website antrim.foodbank.org.uk, which outlines how to donate financially, lists all local food collection points, and contains up-to-date information about the most needed items. Local donation points include sites at Tesco Extra Massereene, SPAR Greystone and, on the first Friday each month, at the Twelfth Milestone. People are also being encouraged to host a collection at their school, church, or business to generate donations which can then be distributed from the food bank.

Fionnuala O’Donnell, manager at Antrim Foodbank, said:

Faced with the perfect storm of rising energy prices, inflation and a potential recession that is pushing people deeper into poverty, the soaring cost of living is driving a tsunami of need to food banks.

 

At Antrim Foodbank, we’re really worried. Comparing total number of individuals through our doors 2021-2022 we saw an increase in footfall of 24%.  Our volunteers are doing all we can to meet this need, but we can only do that with continued support and generosity of our local community.

 

This is a stark reminder of how reliant we have become as a society on the kindness of volunteers.

Speaking about the situation faced by food banks across the UK, Emma Revie, CEO of the Trussell Trust said:

No one should need to turn to charity for something as essential as food and the situation we are facing is too great for food banks to solve alone. We know it doesn’t have to be this way, the Government has shown that the right support, at the right time, can help people out of hardship. That’s why we’re calling on them, now more than ever, to do what’s right and provide a package of support directly targeted at people on the lowest income so that everyone can afford life’s essentials and no one needs a food bank to get by.

ENDS

Back to News