LONDON (AP) — For many struggling families, the elderly and the homeless, Michelle Dornelly’s food center in east London has been a lifeline. Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Britain, she has been collecting surplus groceries from supermarkets and distributing them to people who cannot afford to buy food.
While the virus threat has abated, the need for food banks in Britain has skyrocketed. Sky-high energy and food bills pushing millions even deeper into financial straits, and food banks and community groups like Dornelly’s across the UK say they don’t have enough to feed the growing numbers of desperate people knocking on their door.
“We are struggling as it is, but right now we are in a bubbling pot. People are panicking,” she said, recently serving up turkey curry and onion bhajis to serve people. “We used to be able to run until 4 p.m., but now at 2:30 p.m. all the food is gone.”
Dornelly offers weekly groceries and free hot meals to several dozen regulars in Hackney, an inner-city area of London with a lot of inequality: almost half of all children live in poverty. At least 30 to 40 new people have been referred to her since the winter, she says.
The cost of food and fuel in the UK has risen sharply, with inflation reaches 9% in April — the highest in 40 years. That same month, millions of families saw their annual energy bills jumped by 54%, which amounts to an additional 700 pounds ($863) per year on average for each household. Another increase in the energy price is expected in October, as Russian war in Ukraine and a pick-up in demand after the pandemic push oil and natural gas prices higher.
Food companies have had to pass on higher costs to shoppers, who already have less in their pockets because wages cannot keep up with price increases. Those on low incomes and dependent on state assistance have been hit the hardest. In October, the UK government stopped paying an additional benefit of £20 ($25) a week introduced during the pandemic.
Other parts of the world are having a hard timeeven if inflation bites. Europe has seen rising consumer prices, causing sticker shock in the supermarket. In the US, food banks say rising food and gas prices and overall inflation are: increasing demand for their supportwhile their labor and distribution costs rise and donations decline.
“I think it’s the way life goes. But it shouldn’t be that drastic,” says Dave Anderson, one of Dornelly’s regulars.
The 62-year-old has not been able to work or care for himself since heart surgery and was left at home without electricity or gas until volunteers found him. The 118 pounds ($145) in benefits he gets every two weeks don’t go far.
“Me, I haven’t even looked at my bills because I think I’d like to sit there crying,” Dornelly said. “I don’t understand why the politicians let this happen.”
Things are expected to deteriorate in the coming months. The Bank of England predicts inflation could hit 10% by the fall, and its governor, Andrew Bailey, has warned of a “very real income shock” caused by energy prices and an “apocalyptic” rise in food prices due to the war in Ukraine.
A recent report of the International Monetary Fund said the UK is expected to be the slowest-growing economy of the Group of Seven Leading Democracies by 2023 as war slows global economic recovery from the pandemic.
“All of our organizations are reaching out to us and saying, ‘We need more food,’ more families are approaching us. The people we see have even less to make ends meet,” said Rachel Ledwith, head of community engagement at the Felix Project, a charity that redistributes surplus food from the food industry to approximately 1,000 charities and schools across London.
It delivered enough packs last year to cook 30 million meals, and the kitchen produces thousands of meals every day — like broccoli soup made from the stems. But that’s not nearly enough.
“I think we’re seeing a 25% to 50% increase in demand — so if an organization supported 50 people, they’re seeing almost 75 now,” Ledwith said. “It’s a real pressure – there’s still a huge need in London. We still have a waiting list of several hundred organizations that have asked for food that we can’t handle yet.”
The picture is similar across Britain.
The Trussell Trust, which manages more than half of all UK food banks, said last winter was the busiest outside of 2020 – the peak of the pandemic. The charity said its food banks provided more than 2.1 million food parcels in the UK in the past year, 14% more than the same period in 2019. Of those, 830,000 were for children.
The Food Foundation, another charity, said a recent survey found that about one in seven adults said they or someone they live with skipped meals, ate smaller portions, or went hungry all day because they weren’t feeling well. could afford food.
“The situation is rapidly changing from an economic crisis to a health crisis,” said Anne Taylor, the charity’s director. “The government needs to realize that for many families the boat is sinking and it needs to be repaired. Saving with emergency food packages is not going to work.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government has been heavily criticized for not doing enough. Despite the cost of living crisis dominating political debates and recent local elections, government has not announced new support measures on its annual legislative agenda.
Dornelly fears that the crisis will only really hit if children do not have access to free meals during the summer holidays and later when it gets colder.
“What happens in the summer holidays when you have five screaming children in the house? You couldn’t afford to feed them anyway, so what are you going to do when the gas and electricity run out and you have no food?” she said. “Then I think we’re going to see the peak.”
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