Food bank 'delighted' after winning £40,000 government grant
A Shropshire foodbank said they are "delighted" to have been given £40,000 in government funding.
The Oswestry and Borders food bank applied for a share of the government's Community Organisations Cost of Living Fund via the National Lottery in October this year.
The £76 million package of funding aims to maintain and expand support for people and communities under severe pressure because of the increased cost of living.
The Oswestry foodbank, which is part of The Trussell Trust, said the Cost of Living Crisis has meant they have seen an increase in people needing their services.
Project Manager Liz Jermy said: "We are seeing more families in work, more struggling to pay utilities bills, more families where we are having to sign post them to debt help, lots of people that have navigated benefits before and in increase in people with mental ill health."
She said the cost of living crisis has also created a "a widening demographic of need".
"While two thirds of people are worrying about paying their bills and struggling, there are people in real fuel crisis that are turning off lights and sitting in the dark. We are seeing families that are now sitting in candlelight in the evening. These are families that are articulate and may have children going to university. There is a widening demographic of need."
She added that while the foodbank was "delighted" to have received the government money, they were working on ways to allow towns like Oswestry to function without needing their services.
"We applied for the grant through the Lottery on October and thought we'd have a 50 per cent chance, so we are delighted to get it," she said. "It will help us be sustainable next year, and all of the money will be spent on food purchasing. It is allocated already and will be spent by March."
She said that they are expecting to exceed the 7,000 people they supported during the last financial year due to the Cost of Living Crisis but she added that the Trussell Trust was "lobbying" to try to end the need for them in the first place.
"They shouldn't be here. We love doing what we do but also we are quite angry that we have to do it," added Liz. "This has to stop. We need to work to end food banks in our area."
