'I cried when I opened my first food bank delivery'

Craigavon foodbank

A mother of two has said she cried after receiving her first parcel from a local foodbank.

Denise, from Craigavon, said she was struggling in a cold house with no food when the package arrived full of cans of soup, pasta, cereal, milk, juice, sweets and crisps for her children.

"It might not seem much to some people but it was just a lot to me," she told BBC News NI.

The anti-poverty charity Trussell Trust said its food banks distributed 35,000 emergency food parcels across Northern Ireland between April and September this year.

Denise had to leave her job two years ago due to health reasons.

A private renter, she said by the time her sickness benefits arrived she "couldn't make ends meet".

Denise said it took her a while to contact the foodbank because she was embarrassed.

"I've always worked and looked after myself," she said.

The day she rang the foodbank, Denise called them several times before hanging up when the phone was answered.

Most Trussell parcels are distributed to families with children, with 71% going to households with children 16 and under.

The charity also said 7,400 people visited a food bank for the first time between April and September.

Volunteers at the Craigavon foodbank

In the corner of a sprawling industrial estate is a unit with the number five emblazoned on it. It is as anonymous and uniform as the unit next to it.

Behind the grey steel shutters is every kind of food imaginable. Tin cans are stacked in rows from floor to ceiling and volunteers place items in shopping baskets which are then transferred to boxes for distribution.

Half the stock comes from three permanent collection points in supermarkets across the Craigavon area, which are collected twice a week, said operations' manager Emma Beggs.

A quarter then comes from local churches with the remaining quarter privately donated by companies, schools or individuals.

Operations' manager at Craigavon foodbank Emma Beggs

Ms Beggs said people do not realise the mental health implications of poverty, the "constant weight" on people's shoulders and having to think about "the cost of turning on the TV and the lights".

While the total number of parcels provided across Northern Ireland is down more than 5,000 from the same period last year, representing a 13% decrease, the figure is still 93% greater than 2019.

Meanwhile three Stormont constituencies (based on the pre-2024 boundaries) - Foyle, Newry and Armagh and West Tyrone - have seen an increase in the number of parcels distributed.

Nappies and sanitary products are also distributed

Single mother-of-one Claire had to give up her job as a nurse when it did not work with her childcare arrangements.

Now working as a cleaner, she comes to the foodbank in Craigavon for some extra support.

She said when she first opened a box she felt like a "bit of dignity" had been given back to her.

"Four weeks previously I was able to walk into a shop and buy luxury items," she added.

It was when she could no longer afford them, Claire said, that she realised "things were really bad".

Project manager at Craigavon foodbank Diane Guiney

Diane Guiney, the project manager at Craigavon foodbank, said there is still a "stigma" about using food banks.

"Some people think those who use food banks are getting food they don't need," she said, reiterating that people are referred there to get "the basics".

Between April and September, all UK nations saw a small decrease in the numbers of emergency food parcels distributed, with Wales falling by 7%, Scotland by 6%, England by 4%, and the UK, in total, down 4%.