Bognor Regis foodbank feels the squeeze as cost of living crisis continues

“Any food that people get from us is meant to cover them for at least three days. So, really the foodbank is not a long term solution. We’re supposed to be crisis support and crisis prevention,” said foodbank deputy manager Paul Dickson. “But what we’re seeing more and more of is people who come to us on a regular basis. These people can’t work or they’re waiting for benefits to come in or they’re just not getting enough money and they have a family to support.”

Between January and July, foodbank staff helped feed 2,861 people – a considerable increase on the 2,213 people fed in the same period in 2021. According to Mr Dickson, that uptake coincides with a considerable downturn in donations.

"I was employed during Covid, when there was extra funding available,” he said. “People were really generous. They knew about foodbanks, they were thinking about foodbanks a lot, and they were giving. So we had those extra funds coming in, but now people are returning to something like normal life and, obviously, with the cost of living crisis and everything, people are a bit more reluctant. They’re thinking about their own situation – which is absolutely fair enough. But, in some ways, I think there’s less of a spotlight on what’s going on. "

When foodbank staff are doing their best to provide balanced food parcels, shortages like that can be problematic.

"Each parcel is based off a list designed by a nutritionist from the Trussel Trust. But we were completely out of tinned fruit, we were completely out of milk, we were completely out of fruit juice, we were completely out of meat and fish. It reached a point where we had to just not give people stuff.”

To that end, the foodbank is appealing for donations, asking for goods people might not otherwise think to give: “People tend to give pasta and beans, that kind of thing, which is always helpful. But they don’t always think of things like nappies, or sanitary products like deodrant and shower gel, that kind of thing. It makes all the difference.”

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