519,342 three day emergency food supplies distributed in just 6 months.
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On
December 22nd 2012. I wrote under the heading, "In
2013 Food
banks
will feed more than 200,000 people in the UK".
(http://new-agenda2012.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/in-2013-foodbanks-will-feed-more-than.html)
Today,
it is the
22nd December 2016 and there have been a few changes over the
years since then.
Between
April and September 2016, Trussell Trust Food
banks
alone
distributed
519,342 three day emergency food supplies to people in crisis
compared to 506,369 during the same period last year. 188,584 of
these went to children.
The
total number of people who are now reliant on Food bank charities now
stands at over 1.2 million and the figure rises each month.
This
is what I wrote in 2012.
"This
is 2012 soon to become 2013 and Food
banks
have doubled in number over the past 12 months. In 2013 foodbanks
will feed more than 200,000 people across the country, double the
number of 2012, and the expectation is that this number will grow. It
is a situation about which we should all feel angry, uncomfortable
and even ashamed that we have collectively allowed this situation to
come about. Some people will no doubt have such emotions, but sadly
there are many others who will not. Watch the video and remember that
we have been told that "we are all in this together". as
usual, there are those who are more "in it" than others. As
we lift our glasses across the table full of Christmas dinner with
heat rising from the turkey, roast potato's gravy and all the other
goodies on our plates, we might consider that there are those who are
unable even to qualify for assistance from the foodbanks. It is a sad
but true fact that even the Trussell Trust, and all the similar
organisations now springing up around Britain, do not have sufficient
resources or volunteers to cope with the an ever increasing problem
and therefore have to be selective when helping those in need. Many
people will spend the next two weeks, as they have spent the past
year or even years, on the streets of towns and cities in this
country. A country which once boasted having "an empire upon
which the sun never sets" and a collective wealth envied by
nations around the world in the 19th Century is now, in the 21st
Century, reduced to witnessing ordinary people, many of whom actually
employed, queuing for food charity. This video report is a damning
indictment of the present state of British society, which has been
brought about by the failure of government policies over previous
decades, and now compounded by the ConDem coalition's "austerity
measures" imposed by bankers and the IMF/Eurozone dictats. As I
said previously, we should all feel angry, uncomfortable and even
ashamed that we have collectively allowed this situation to come
about."
The
words are as true today as they were 3 years ago. Only the figures
have been amended to reflect the scandalous increase in the number of
people, families and children who rely on Food bank charities to
provide food for their tables. This disgraceful situation has grown
alarmingly over the years and continues to grow at a rate which no
civilised nation should accept. We must work together to reduce and
bring an end to this stain on our society which is now at
unacceptable levels and can only get worse with this governments
continued drive towards cuts, sanctions and attacks upon living
standards across the country.
Austerity
is not an economic necessity. Austerity is a political choice and the
price is being paid by those least able to afford it.
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