Food poverty and what you can do

• By Lily Barclay

  Want to give something back but don’t know how? Find out how food banks work and what you can do to help.

 

What is a food bank?

Food banks provide a minimum of three days emergency food to families and households in crisis.
The number of people relying on food banks has tripled over the last year, according to new figures. The UK is the world's sixth largest economy, yet, according to Oxfam, one in five UK citizens lives below the poverty line. Between 2012 and 2013 food banks fed 346,992 people nationwide and of those helped, 126,889 were children.

Most food banks work on a referral process, so care professionals such as doctors, health visitors and social workers will refer people in need to a food bank with a voucher than can be exchanged for food. However, there are plenty of independent food banks run by local communites or churches who simply work on the premise of people coming in and asking for help. Once at the food bank they will typically receive a care package made up of three days of nutritionally balanced, non-perishable food. Food banks also often put clients in touch with other organisations who are better equipped to resolve the underlying problems of poverty.
If you want to do something to help there are plenty of ways to lend a hand to people in crisis. Food banks are often staffed by volunteers and run solely on donations.