A food bank in Huntingdon is currently providing 20 families a week with emergency food parcels and hopes that, with support from local businesses and the community, it will be able to increase that number to 80.
Huntingdon Emergency Food Bank, which is open seven days a week and gives three-day food parcels to feed those who find themselves without food, said the demand is high because of the cost-of-living crisis.
Town mayor, Cllr Phill Pearce and mayoress Debbie Pearce visited the newly-established site on the High Street to show their support for the work being done daily by the team.
Huntingdon Food Bank is powered by Ansary Foundation, which supports people in the UK and in Bangladesh providing food parcels and blankets.
Iqbal Ansary, founder of Ansary Foundation, said: "When the pandemic hit, we started small and began helping local people in Cambridgeshire by feeding the emergency services, providing regular donations to the local food banks and giving hampers to those in need.
"We also held many fundraising events and supported local events with donations and man power.
"We realised that helping those who needed it was the best use of our time," he added.
The team then decided to start their own non-profitable charitable organisation and have since helped more than16,000 families in the UK and Bangladesh.
"We are currently operating in the UK and Bangladesh and are exploring the avenues to help those in the poorest parts of India," he said, adding that the foundation currently has hundreds of regular volunteers in both countries.
"In these difficult times, Huntingdon Food Bank is an essential part of the community and is helping to fight poverty by providing around 20 families a week with an emergency food parcel.
“With the help and support of local businesses and the community, we aim to be providing food parcels to as many as 80 families a week."
The food bank does not accept cash donations, only long-life food products and toiletries. It is currently in partnership with Blue Cross Animal charity and able to offer pet food to those who need it the most.
Nationally, the Trussell Trust says that close to three million emergency food parcels were distributed by food banks in its network in the past 12 months — the most parcels ever distributed by the network in a year.
“Food banks in the Trussell Trust network saw the highest ever levels of need, even more than during the peak of the pandemic, as more people found their incomes did not cover the cost of essentials like heating and food,” says a report on their website.
It adds that “between April 2022 and March 2023, the number of people that used a food bank for the first time was 760,000.
“December 2022 was the busiest month on record for food banks in the Trussell Trust network, with a food parcel being distributed every eight seconds.”
The country-wide rise in foodbank use is a direct result of the cost of living crisis, according to the Office For National Statistics.
“In the UK, the price of consumer goods and services rose at the fastest rate in four decades in the year to October 2022," a report said, adding that the cost of everyday essentials is about 9.5 per cent higher than in November 2021.
The ONS report added that around half of adults are using less fuel in their homes and around two-thirds (67%) of adults say their cost of living has increased when compared with a month ago.
Anyone who finds themself in a position where they will need access to the emergency food bank then should visit www.ansaryfoundation.co.uk/huntingdonfoodbank or email ansaryfoundation5@gmail.com or call 07717418416.
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