Donations dip leaves food bank short for summer
Catherine Faluyi says demand at the food bank is growing
- Published
Workers at a Bradford food bank have said it is receiving fewer donations, although demand for help has increased.
The Feedo Needo charity runs a service in the West Bowling area of the city, helping around 200 people a month.
It relies heavily upon deliveries from national food waste charity FareShare , but said these had decreased in size.
FareShare urged any charity needing help to get in touch - but warned donations had been hit by factors including above-average rainfall affecting surplus produce.
Project coordinator Catherine Faluyi has worked with Feedo Needo in Bradford since the start of the year.
She is in charge of six volunteers who run both a food bank and homeless outreach service.
She said: "We are getting more and more of an increase in the demand for food supply.
"And we're also experiencing a decline in what is being donated or what is being given to the food bank as well.
"There are major donations from a company called FareShare - they donate not just to Feedo Needo but to others in Braford too - and there's been a decline in some of the food items that we're getting."
Food donations are a lifeline for the charity and the people it helps
FareShare redistributes food waste from organisations including supermarkets and food manufacturers to a network of 8,500 charities and community groups across the UK.
A spokesperson said it currently had more than 1,000 charities on its waiting list.
They said: "In addition, England has recorded record-breaking levels of rain over the past 18 months, which has had an impact on UK harvests, adding pressure to British farmers and growers to deliver more produce.
"We’re working hard to access more surplus to support the charities we provide food to, and we are grateful to the collaboration we have seen across the food and manufacturing industries to help us meet demand."
It recently launched the Coronation Food Project with King Charles to identify more sources of surplus food.
More than 13m people (9.3m adults and 4m children) experienced food insecurity in January 2023, according to the Food Foundation charity.
This represents just over 20% of the UK population, or one in five people.
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