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£250,000 boost to combat food poverty in Cumbria from The Cumberland

by Cumbria Crack
22/06/2023
in Latest, News
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The Cumberland Building Society has pledged £250,000 to a charity that helps combat food poverty in Cumbria.

Its support follows warnings that charities in the county are facing a perfect storm of rising demand at the same time as experiencing pressures on the supply of surplus food to foodbanks and other projects.

Data supplied to The Cumberland shows that food poverty is one of the biggest concerns for Cumbrians caught in the cost of living crisis. Research also showed:

  • FareShare’s 36 members in Cumbria supplied 2.4 million meals to people over the last 12 months
  • 80 per cent of the projects have seen demand increase, in many cases significantly
  • Ninety three per cent are expected to see demand continue to rise through 2023
  • On average they have seen a rise of 48 users a week during last year

Further research by The Cumberland showed a similar picture across Cumbria including:

  • Increases of around 30 per cent for foodbanks serving major towns in Cumbria
  • A 75 per cent increase in people using rural foodbanks
  • A small town’s foodbank in south Cumbria saw a tripling of deliveries due to long-term issues faced by local people

Now The Cumberland has made its largest ever donation for its Kinder Kind of Kitchen initiative.

It aims to help dozens of FareShare Lancashire and Cumbria’s members invest in more food and expand their provision.

It has teamed up with FareShare Lancashire and Cumbria to focus on the issue and will also be encouraging its colleagues across the region to use their volunteer day to support the charity. It will be supporting members in Cumbria as well as two in Lancashire.

Claire Deekes, chief customer officer for The Cumberland, visited Waste into Wellbeing at Kendal’s People Cafe yesterday and said she felt humbled to see the work being done by volunteers.

“It is humbling and inspiring to spend some time to see the incredible work that people are doing here to support people facing food poverty.

“Our research showed a significant increase in foodbank and community kitchen usage. It was really evident that this is a growing problem.

“We wanted to do something in partnership with FareShare that will make a real difference in our communities. Listening to people today I can see how our funding will help alleviate some of the pressures food projects like this are facing.”

Alasdair Jackson is chief executive of Recycling Lives Social Enterprise, which runs FareShare Lancashire & Cumbria. Yesterday he was in Kendal to highlight the spiralling food crisis in Cumbria.

He said: “Covid trebled demand for foodbanks, but that was not a peak – it was a practice for the cost of living crisis and demand is higher than ever.

“Now we have a situation where people are visiting foodbanks who would never have considered it before. And at the same time, there is less surplus, so foodbanks are facing a perfect storm.

“Surplus food is harder to come by because the war in Ukraine has meant a lot of food is not moving as it was and supermarkets are cutting back.”

Stacey Hurley, development manager at Waste into Wellbeing at Kendal’s People’s Cafe, said : “The impact of the Cumberland’s donation is tenfold. If we’ve got more trained volunteers, we can run more cafe sessions, which means we deliver more meals.

“So the volume of food will fundamentally go up, and the amount of activities we can run to deliver food will go up. It’s crucial.”

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