West Belfast food bank sees 250% rise in demand in 2021

2021 has been the foodbank's most challenging year to date

A west Belfast food bank has reported a 250% increase in demand for food in the last year.

LifeHub NI helps more than 600 families each week - mainly refugees and asylum seekers but also local people going through hard times during the pandemic.

2021 has been the food bank's most challenging year to date.

It began with the knock-on effect of Brexit on its supplies as it receives surplus food from local supermarkets and food distributors.

"There are certainly some products that are less available and that would have a reflection on what we're collecting as well," LifeHub NI chairman Peter Shaw told BBC News NI.

LifeHub NI chairman Peter Shaw said some products were less available due to Brexit-related issues

LifeHub NI founder Edmund Aruofor said there was no clarity for supermarkets "on what Brexit meant in terms of getting food coming in".

"Places like the depots - the wholesale depots - started supplying not only their chain of stores, but ended up supplying other supermarkets with food, so of course there was less to give to us," he said.

People queue around the block every Friday and Saturday morning for food parcels at LifeHub and, for the first time ever, it has had to introduce a waiting list.

The food bank specialises in healthy food, fresh fruit and vegetables, meat and milk - items which can be difficult for normal food banks to store and supply.

LifeHub NI founder Edmund Aruofor said Brexit issues meant less food coming from wholesale depots

Nutritious food was even more important during the pandemic, Mr Shaw said.

"Families come here for two reasons probably - one is about food poverty and the other reason is because we're providing fresh fruit and vegetables and they walk and cycle miles to get here," he said.

In October, Mr Aruofor contracted Covid-19 and spent a month in an induced coma in Altnagelvin Hospital in Londonderry.

"I could have died," he said.

"I had infections, I had a totally collapsed left lung, I was not responding well to them trying to resuscitate me, so they had to put me back under.

"There were days I was agitated, I was pulling the pipe out of my throat."

The foodbank is expecting 2022 to be similarly busy

Having been through that experience, he is now urging everyone to get vaccinated.

"It's not worth taking the risk not taking the jab," he said.

"Whatever you think the side effects of the jab might be, it is better than you having to go through what I went through.

"What about the people you leave behind if you do die? The impact on your loved ones and your friends."

2021 has been a difficult year with rising levels of need. Those who run this food bank are not expecting 2022 to be much different.