Rebecca Duffett reports

Mike Davies

Poverty and the donating of food to homes aren't images usually associated with the UK. However, earlier this year, the sleepy Devonshire town of Okehampton suddenly found that with the closure of some local factories, unemployment rose six fold and families were left dependent on food parcels.

Mike Davies, a local counsellor and church minister is in touch with the impact on local people, "The fear of tomorrow is a big issue, especially if you have no income coming in and you've got a family to feed. People are worried about what the future holds. The doctors have said that there's increased numbers of people that are coming in talking about stress. We've gone from 1.9% unemployment to 12% unemployment within four weeks, so we've had a drastic increase in unemployment. We've got various discussions with various agencies to try to get things going but we really need new business to come into Okehampton. At the moment there is no sign of that though."

"It's very desperate because we are a rural community with limited public transport. It's very difficult to get to a Job Centre; the nearest one is 23 miles away. There's such a need for food that we have a Foodbank, we've just been over-run, but we have been supported very generously by the local population."

The Foodbank have been providing food for over 50 families a week. Andrew Morgan is the project organiser, "We became aware of the Foodbank network being operated by the Trussell Trust in Salisbury. We thought it was a good model that we could apply to Okehampton and so we set it up. Traditionally it would work on a voucher system where we give out vouchers to local agencies who are on the front line, like Citizens Advice Bureau, Housing Benefit Office, police, doctors, social workers, midwives and people like that. When they come across somebody who is in crisis, or somebody in crisis goes to them, they assess their needs and if they feel that they could benefit from the Foodbank, they issue a voucher to the potential client. That client can then redeem the voucher at the Foodbank for a parcel of food."

"We work on the idea that we give non-perishables, because that means that we can store it more easily. Our environmental health licence is to store tins and packets and things like that, so we don't deal much in perishable goods. Some of the food that goes in is breakfast cereals, tins of soup, tins of beans, tins of tomatoes, vegetables, fruit, pasta, pasta sauce and UHT milk. We give the staples really, with the idea that there's enough food for a balanced diet for about three days. Then we make up a parcel according to the size of the family that have come in for it."

The Trussell Trust relies on donations to keep this vital work going, Andrew knows how needed that is, "Donations come in, on the whole, from the general public; people just bring in bags of shopping from time to time. We also receive excellent support from the Lyons, the Rotary, the local primary school, college and various other organisations and businesses. The main thrust has come from Joe Public out there who's got a neighbour, or a family member who's suffering at the moment and wants to help to alleviate the suffering. Not everybody in the UK realises the level of need. I think they do now in Okehampton because we've had such a big push on it and a lot of publicity, but on the whole it does come as a bit of shock when you find out."

13 million people live below the poverty line in the UK. Every day people in the UK go hungry for reasons ranging from redundancy to receiving an unexpected bill on a low income. If you need help, you can call the Trussell Trust on 01722 411244; or if you're in a city that doesn't yet have a Foodbank, why not consider setting one up?