Food banks in Beverley and Holderness have shared their concerns and experiences of the pandemic in a recent meeting with their local MP, Graham Stuart.
Food banks, including representatives from Withernsea’s SHoRes Centre, the Cherry Tree Centre in Beverley and Hedon Food Bank, as well as East Riding Voluntary Action Services (ERVAS), took the opportunity to outline how demand for their services had increased since March 2020. In some cases, food bank referrals have seen an almost 300% rise compared to 2019.
All in all, the five food banks present at the meeting have helped more than 70,000 people through the pandemic as residents have had to cope with unprecedented disruption to their livelihoods, including reduced wages and in some cases, redundancies.
Now, with Covid-specific funding drawing to a close, Graham will be taking their concerns to the Communities Secretary, Rob Jenrick, and the leader of East Riding Council.
Following the meeting, Graham said: “It is of course concerning to hear how demand for food banks has shot up as a result of the pandemic, but I was pleased to hear that they have all benefited from Government grants to cover food costs and that recently established food strategies and alliances are working.
“It’s also incredibly inspiring to hear from those who have selflessly worked so hard to help people who’ve been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
“There were some interesting points raised about the need for a grassroots strategy to lift people out of poverty so that the demand for food banks lessens and that it would be useful if grant funding could help with this, rather than just being targeted at supplying food. As a result, I will be raising this with both Ministers and the council to ensure that the need for a post-Covid strategy is on their radar.”
Another issue raised was that with the winding-down of the furlough scheme, many volunteers at the food banks will be returning to their day jobs, meaning that distributing food will become harder without the workforce to do it. Graham has confirmed that workforce issues in the voluntary sector is something else he will be raising.
Natalie Taylor-Robinson, Food Bank Development Officer at ERVAS, added: “It was really useful to meet with some our member food banks across Beverley and Holderness to share our concerns with Graham.”
“We’re seeing a huge uptake in demand because of the pandemic, as well as a change in the type of people we’re seeing at our centres. Our sector will be at the forefront of the country’s recovery from coronavirus, and we will need the correct support in place to do this.”
