People turn to foodbanks to feed their families over Christmas

Instead of turkey with all the trimmings, hard-pressed families will be serving up tinned and dried foods this festive season.

The Echo has found people from all backgrounds are continuing to show up at centres with vouchers in Weymouth and Portland.

The number of people being fed by Weymouth Foodbank is increasing every week. Last year the food bank provided food for 2,343 people.

Lily Mockett, co-ordinator at Weymouth Foodbank said: “Already this year we have hundreds more than that. We haven’t got the exact figures yet. We’ve been too busy to do it.

“Just on Friday alone we did food for over 100 people. It’s just manic at the moment.”

Weymouth Foodbank is based at Weymouth Baptist Church, opening on Tuesdays and Fridays between 10am and 12.30pm.

Lily said: “We have got two rooms plus the use of the parlour and the kitchen on the days we open.

“People are so amazing. We have 11 churches that deliver food to us nearly every Tuesday.”

Last year, Weymouth Foodbank provided 35 Christmas hampers to families – in addition to the food they would normally send out.

Lily said: “We put in tins of biscuits, tins of sweets, selection boxes for the children, ham, all sorts of things.

“We have masses and masses of baked beans and pasta. We are always running out of vegetables, squash, milk, fruit and coffee.

“It’s the same ones every month that we have to keep going out to buy.

“Fortunately, people donate money to us which means we can go out and buy things that we don’t get in.”

Nicola Moran, 37, from Weymouth, said she has used Weymouth Foodbank to help feed up to five people.

She said: “I don’t know what I’d do without them.

“Especially this time of year, it is very helpful. It’s admirable in a sense what they do.

“I moved in with my partner and we have had all our benefits stopped.

“I’m self-employed and I’m a market-trader and I’m not having a good season at all.

“I’m only earning about £30 a week for my self-employment and £30 on child benefits.

“When there are five of you to support on £60 a week it’s really difficult.”

A recent all-party parliamentary inquiry into hunger in the United Kingdom found benefit delays as one of the root causes for the huge rise in the use of food banks.

The Bishop of Salisbury, the Right Revd Nicholas Holtam, said the report’s recommendations set a clear agenda for politicians.

He said: “This is a serious report which is only partly about food poverty and food banks. It asks some very fundamental questions about what sort of society we choose to be.”

The report included 77 recommendations, including the creation of a national ‘Feeding Britain’ network of organisations providing emergency food assistance.

Lily remained sceptical about any potential government invol-vement.

She said: “It’s not going to be done all voluntarily. Can you just imagine what it’s going to cost the government to do all of this?”

Discussing benefits, Lily said she had known people having to wait eight to 12 weeks before they could get hold of them.

She said: “The way the benefits system has changed is appalling.”

Similar concerns were shared by Jon Bayliff, manager of Portland Foodbank.

The foodbank opened in November last year.

Jon said vouchers equal to more than 7,000 meals had been cashed in since its opening.

“On average, we get five to 10 clients a week, sometimes more than that.

“We’ve had 356 vouchers presented here over the year.

"This relates to 7,229 meals. It was never designed as a feeding programme. It’s designed to help people out of a crisis.

“There’s definitely an uptake of need and it’s always more distressing at Christmas as well.

“Very often there are children involved and when parents obviously want to provide stuff for the kids they sometimes overspend a little bit.

“The benefits system goes to sleep over Christmas and nothing will get done.”

Jon said Portland Foodbank, based at St John’s Hall, Ventnor Lane, was set up after they asked Weymouth Food-bank how many Portlanders were using the service.

He said: “They said over a year they only gave out 40 vouchers. We realised there was a problem because we guessed there was much more need than what was being met.

“I did a little bit of market research and spoke to one or two professionals. They all said: ‘We desperately need a foodbank on Portland. We decided we would do it as a group of churches together.'”

Portland Foodbank recently held a thank-you lunch for organisations that have helped support its services.

Jon said: “The community needs to be congratulated and thanked for all the generosity we have seen so far.”

For more information on how to donate to Portland Food-bank, call 01305 824381 or email portlandfoodbank@gmail.com.

STAFF at the Echo have been joining others by making their own donations to local foodbanks.
Non-perishable food, toiletries and even Christmas treats for children have been brought into the office.
Carole Penfold, senior media consultant, organised the collection.
She said: “A few weeks ago, I was watching TV and there were a few news stories that were highlighting how important local foodbanks were, especially during the Christmas period.
“People we encounter in our everyday lives are in need of this service without us even being aware of it.
“I thought it would be a good idea to start something among the Echo teams.”

VOLUNTEERS at the Dorchester Foodbank have urged people in need of help to make themselves known.
Rosemary Hardwicke, committee member, said: “We are not as busy as we’d like to be.
“We are busy, however, with donations. The community is hugely generous to us.
“We do have some very, very sad cases that come to the foodbank.
“We always knew when we opened the foodbank in Dorchester that the need was over the hill.”
The foodbank is based at the Dorford Centre and open on Mondays from 12pm to 2pm.
On Wednesdays and Fridays, the foodbank is also open from 10.30am to 12.30pm.
Rosemary said: “Please keep your eyes open for people who could use the foodbank. For people out there who need us, we want them to come forward.”