A north-east foodbank has warned the cost-of-living crisis is now an emergency with more people than ever needing help.
Aberdeen North Foodbank said it is working on a deficit of donations, and is urging people to back its reverse advent calendar to help top up its stock this festive period.
The foodbank, which is part of the Trussell Trust network, has five sites in Ellon, Fraserburgh, Huntly, Inverurie and Peterhead.
The reverse advent calendar – a popular collection tool at this year time of year – asks supported to pop an item from the charity’s list into a bag each day.
The 25 items on the list include foods, such as a jar of jam, a tin of vegetables and a packet of biscuits, while non-food items include deodorant and toothbrush/toothpaste.
Aberdeenshire North Foodbank is encouraging people, groups and organisations to start collecting as soon as possible so that they have everything in place for the start of December, which allows them to get it ready to dispatch in time for Christmas.
Aberdeenshire North Foodbank’s community participation and campaigns lead Shona Singer said the initiative is crucial for boosting donations.
‘The crisis is deepening’
Mrs Singer said: “At the start, when we knew the crisis was kind of on its way, people were speaking about the choice between heating or eating and I think people are struggling to do either now.”
“The crisis is deepening, it is an emergency situation for so many people.
“We need to do something big to drive donations. We know times are difficult for everybody at the moment and as well as the need going up, our donations are actually down in general.
“We’re hoping that this will give us a good stock. Obviously, we’re asking for it in the run-up to Christmas but this will give us a good stock of things for emergency food parcels going into the new year.
“We’ve obviously got a lot of difficult winter months ahead, so we want to be able to get our storeroom as well stocked as possible in the run-up to that.”
Campaign helps boost profile
Last month, the foodbank launched their End Hunger in Aberdeenshire campaign to:
- Get to people before there is a need for them to use a foodbank
- Work with foodbank users to build forums to find out why they are using them.
- Asking users if there are issues that they can help them with before the situation develops further.
- Drive up food donations to ensure that they can exist while still needed.
- With the campaign now in full swing and the cost of living crisis continuing to escalate, the charity’s reverse advent calendar encourages people and groups to donate items to the appeal.
Since the launch of last month’s campaign, Mrs Singer said that there has been an increase in the amount of food that Aberdeenshire North Foodbank has been handing out.
However, there has also been a lot of people signing up to be supporters of the campaign, in which people either pledge to donate to the foodbank, sign up to get information about it, volunteer with it or write to their local MSP/MP.
Other initiatives
As well as handing our food parcels to people, Aberdeenshire North Foodbank is also pointing people to other help, like warm banks and financial help.
To find out more about Aberdeenshire North Foodbank, Mrs Singer can be contacted on 07725014856.
The Press and Journal has also published a list of warm banks across the region, find out more here.
The map is just one of the ways we’re supporting communities across the north-east and north of Scotland through its Big Food Appeal.
We want to help break down the stigma around foodbanks, and make it clear who can use them – the simple answer is, anyone who needs one.
We are also signposting people to their nearest foodbanks, and the various help that is available.
Conversation