Mid Ulster children needed over 2,000 emergency food parcels in six months

Children in Mid Ulster received over 2,000 emergency food parcels from The Trussell Trust in the last six months.

Statistics from The Trussell Trust showed a significant increase in food bank use in the area.

Mid Ulster (MU) received 4,534 food parcels from Trussell Trust between April and September this year. A total of 2,217 went to children and 2,317 went to adults.

Last year MU received 700 with children receiving 302 and 398 going to adults.

The huge jump is largely caused by the Dungannon Food Bank joining The Trussell Trust network last year. The Dungannon Foodbank and Magherafelt Foodbanks now both serve MU in partnership with the NGO.

Causeway Coast and Glens (CCG) received 3,984 food parcels in the same six month period.

A total of 1,375 of these were for children and 2,609 were for adults.

Last year CCG received 4,226 with 1,708 going to children and 2,518 to adults.

Jenny Thompson from Magherafelt Foodbank said it has been running eight years but there has been an increase in the numbers of people using it recently.

“Last year and this year are very much in a par and last year was our was our busiest year,” she said.

She said they are currently preparing for a busy winter, with groups already contacting them for help ahead of Christmas.

“At the minute we're being contacted by some agencies and organisations that aren't normal referral partners of ours and they're asking how can they support someone? How can they refer someone? and they're already saying that Christmas is going to be very difficult for families so I would imagine the next few months are going to be busy.”

The Trussell Trust has reported that an 'alarming' 9,986 people have needed to use a food bank for the first time in the past six months, warning that food banks are at ‘breaking point’.

“We've seen a lot more people whose physical or mental health has suffered because of the crisis they've been in. We've seen an awful lot of families and individuals who, whose income is only benefit related.

“That falls in line with the statistics that Trussell Trust and Joseph Rowntree's campaign, The Essentials Campaign, in which they're saying benefits are nowhere near what people need to afford the everyday essentials – it's short £30 or £40,” Jenny said.

The Trussell Trust’s figures showed that a total of 39,334 emergency food parcels were provided across the charity's foodbank network in the North between April and September.

This is the most parcels the network has ever distributed during that period and represents a 23% increase on the year before. It is also a bigger increase than in England, Wales and Scotland.

The charity says low incomes, especially from social security, debt, health conditions and issues with social security payments such as delays or sanctions were the main reasons people were left with no option but to turn to a food bank for help.  

A record 16,600 of the emergency food parcels were provided to support 8,400 children in the North. This is a 24% increase on the same period the year before.

The data showed 73% of all the parcels in the six months were for families with children.  

Families with children are likely to have been affected by the ending of the School Holiday Food Grant scheme from April 2023, according to the charity. The scheme provided a payment during school holiday periods to help families provide nutritious meals to children and young people who are entitled to free school meals.

The Trussell Trust believes that the situation is unlikely to change in the coming months with this stark new data leading them to forecast that food banks in their network will distribute more than a million emergency food parcels across the UK between December 2023 and February 2024 the equivalent of providing a parcel every eight seconds this winter.  

The Magherafelt Food Bank provides non-perishable food items and toiletries as well as fresh fruit and vegetables parcels. Sometimes, depending on funding, it will also provide meat vouchers.

The Food Bank is currently looking for donations of tinned tomatoes, pasta sauce, rice pudding, custard, fruit juice and toiletries. Donations can be made through the local Tescos and JC Stewarts or by dropping them into the Magherafelt Food Bank building.