Record number of food parcels distributed in Wales as charity fears hardest winter yet

Nearly 90,000 emergency food parcels were given to people in five months by Trussell Trust food banks across Wales, according to charity.

It is the most amount of deliveries it has made at this time of year, the charity said, adding it is an 15% increase from the same period last year.

It comes as more than 32,000 parcels were given to nearly 20,000 children, who are living with families that can not afford essentials.

The charity is warning that food banks are at "breaking point".

The Trussell Trust said it believes the situation will not improve, predicting more than million emergency food parcels will be delivered between December and February 2024.

That, it said, is the equivalent of providing a parcel every eight seconds this winter.

ITV News spoke to Steve Jones, Food Bank Operations Manager at Rhymney Valley Food Bank, about the current situation.

He said: "Over the last year we have seen our numbers increase drastically. At one point this year we almost had to close our doors, we temporarily ran out of food, that's how busy we were. Numbers haven't seemed to decrease."

Discussing the cost of living crisis he added: "We are much busier now than we were in the darkest depth of the pandemic. We came out of an international health crisis and went into an international financial crisis.

"Lots of people in the upper Rhymney Valley are living in total destitution and can't afford to buy the basic essentials. Food is currently a luxury for some people.

"We do support people who receive state benefits but we also support working families who can't stretch their resources over the month"

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