An urgent appeal has been launched for extra supplies after demand at a Shetland food bank hit record levels.
Lerwick Salvation Army said that their centre has handed out 156 food parcels this year to people living below the bread line, an increase of 50% on 2014.
The centre’s evening corps officer Angela Nunn put out a call for a range of supplies including tins of soup, baked beans, spaghetti, tomatoes, pasta sauce and ‘meals in a tin’.
Mrs Nunn said it was unclear why there had been such an upsurge of demand this year, including this month which has already seen 13 parcels handed out despite it being summer when requests are normally less frequent.
She said: “We have been really, really busy, the trend is massively up.
“Some people might say it’s because more people are getting to know about us, but I think the need is there.
“People are not asking for food parcels that don’t need them.
“There are people who are really struggling in the community.
She added: “It’s been a long, cold winter as well and we have not had much sun this summer so people are having to put their heating on more and are really wrestling with the question do I heat or do I eat.”
Three years ago in 2012 the Salvation Army handed out just 46 food parcels by the end of May. That figure rose to 95 in 2014, then to 101 last year and in 2015 rocketed up again to 143.
Mrs Nunn said 95% of requests were referred from social workers or the NHS, and came from the length and breadth of Shetland.
The charity is asking people to drop much needed items off at the centre on North Road, Lerwick on weekday afternoons between 2pm and 4.30pm.
Donations can also be made at the Lerwick branch of Royal Bank of Scotland, Walls shop, Bigton shop, Lerwick’s Market House and Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary.
A food parcel contains a week’s supply of teabags, coffee, dried milk, cereal, tinned fruit, rice pudding and custard, tinned meals like curry, chilli and hot dogs, tinned soup, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, peas and sweetcorn, pasta and rice, a jar of sauce, biscuits and toiletries.