In the past couple of weeks, I’ve gone along to help out at the Craven Vale Food Bank, the Bristol Estate Food Hub and the Whitehawk Food Bank.
I was touched by how many people were donating food and volunteering, cooking meals and delivering food to vulnerable residents.
I even saw examples of people giving back some of the food they had received, being thoughtful of others and insisting that it went to those in greater need – which I think sums up the amazing community spirit that has grown in these difficult times.
I want to thank the Brighton and Hove Food Partnership, who have been working with the council, residents and partner organisations to set up a network of food hubs, working with existing food banks to keep the city fed through the pandemic.
What has been striking is how much the demand for food banks has risen in recent weeks and months.
The Trussell Trust reported an 81 per cent increase for emergency food parcels from food banks in its network during the last two weeks of March 2020, compared to the same period in 2019, including a 122 per cent rise in parcels given to children.
We’re seeing this locally too. The Whitehawk Food Bank has seen demand quadruple over the last month, for example.
It now supports over 120 local residents each week with emergency food boxes and is expecting to see demand continue to escalate.
The covid-19 outbreak is hitting a lot of people financially and a further reason for such a spike in the demand for food banks is likely the impact of coronavirus on precarious work.
While some people have been furloughed from their jobs, many have lost them altogether.
As we consider what we want our city and our country to look like after lockdown, we need to see an end to zero-hours contracts and greater job security for people – and I will be making that case to government.
Thank you again to everyone supporting the efforts to keep our city fed.
You can donate to the Food Partnership to help purchase essential food, packaging and toiletries for vulnerable and isolated people in Brighton and Hove here.
Councillor Nancy Platts is the Labour leader of Brighton and Hove City Council.
