Cambridge city foodbank appeal after 'biggest ever decrease in donations'

A foodbank has called for urgent support after facing a record drop in donations amid unprecedented demand for its services.

Cambridge City Foodbank says the cost of living crisis has provided a double blow - meaning more people than ever need emergency food parcels but fewer people are able to afford to contribute.

Last year the foodbank supported just under 16,000 people with emergency food parcels and demand this year has soared.

Organiser Kate MacIntosh said: "Donations often fall at this time of year but this is the biggest decrease in donations we have ever seen.

"Money's tight for most of us right now so those people who previously might have been regular donors and would very often put something in the trolley at the supermarket to put in the foodbank collection [...] are much less able to do that.

"Also you plan to spend £5 on your donation each month, that's buying fewer things than it used to.

"We are seeing unprecedented need in the city we are feeding more and more people than ever... we have less food to work with and more people to feed than before."

Ms MacIntosh said that the drop in donations could mean that additional services designed to help support people so they no longer need to use a foodbank would suffer.

"We are having to buy in more and more food, about 25% of what is going out to our welcome centres, where people come in and collect their food emergency parcels is now bought in directly by us which is not an efficient user of our resources or time...

"We are now looking at a situation where if donations don't start rising again we might have to turn people away who desperately need our help which is really not what we want to do."

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know