This is a story of joy and hope from Worcester Foodbank. Firstly, we are joyful and thankful that Worcester people and organisations have continued their amazing support of Worcester Foodbank with donations of food and money.
The last 12 months have been our busiest yet and in the build-up to Christmas our foodbank team were absolutely wonderful in helping us to provide food parcels, Christmas hampers and support to all who have turned to us in crisis, turning their frowns upside down. But there is also hope!
Worcester Foodbank and foodbanks across the country continue to provide the support that is needed to fill the gap which exists because people do not have a living household income, sufficient to pay for the household essentials.
We and the Trussell Trust (the national foodbank charity) continue to lobby government and all politicians for this to be put right. Our great desire is for foodbanks to be no longer needed. But the gap between the “rich and poor” seems to be just getting bigger. Policy proposals seem to be just focussed on the needs of the party and not the people.
Therefore, our hope is that in 2024 we will have the opportunity to address this.
We plan to ask all the parliamentary candidates to be open and transparent about this issue. We will ask them to tell us what they plan to do, what action they plan, and how they will address food poverty and the need for a living household income that enables people to afford the household essentials.
We don’t want to hear about political party rhetoric, i.e. not what they have been doing in recent times and how much they have invested in addressing this issue. Clearly from our experience and knowledge this has not worked. Rather than this we need to know what will be different in the future that will lead to the eradication of poverty and the need for foodbanks.
In the meantime, a massive thank you to everyone who has supported us. You are all amazing!
Grahame Lucas, Manager, Worcester Foodbank.