Bristol food bank donations drying up, priest says

Rev Richard McKay said it was becoming more difficult to source fresh vegetables along with more basic foods

A food bank has reported being in urgent need of donations as the "surge of generosity" in lockdown has ended.

Rev Richard McKay, parish priest at Bristol's St Nicholas of Tolentino Church, said while donations had reduced, demand was the same.

"The shelves were practically buckling under the weight of the food but now most of them are empty," he said.

The church is using its savings to meet demand and is urgently appealing for donations ahead of the school holidays.

"We're getting the same number of families [as during lockdown] maybe even more families than before, as the poverty has really bitten in," Rev McKay said.

Donations and grants helped fill the shelves during the height of the pandemic but some are looking more empty now

"The number of families will rise and the need for food will rise because children are not getting free school meals. During summer holidays they turn to food banks."

He said they had a plentiful supply of food at the heart of the pandemic through grants, monetary donations, and local shops and cafes donating food because they were unable to open.

Fresh vegetables and frozen meat were in particularly short supply now, but the food bank was also struggling to source basic items such as tea, coffee, pasta and rice.

"Food poverty is growing in this country, not diminishing. It's a total scandal in wealthy country like our own," Rev McKay said.

The food bank in Bristol is appealing for more donations with the upcoming school holidays expected to bring a further rise in demand

The church food bank had been open six days a week during the height of lockdown but now opens three days a week and is used by about 60-80 people daily.

Foodbank user, Chris, said: "I've been coming every week now since the lockdown started so well over a year now. You can get fresh stuff here that you can't get elsewhere.

"It's really helped a lot as I would have found it very tough without it."

Some of the users are homeless, many are families and the church estimates it is supporting more than 1,000 people per week with food.