West Cheshire Foodbank joins End Hunger Fast calling for Government Action

West Cheshire Foodbank has been supporting End Hunger Fast, a national campaign also backed by over 20 charities including Oxfam, Child Poverty Action Group. We were at Westminster for Ash Wednesday (March 5^th 2014), where the Government faced a huge and growing call to take action on welfare, wages and food markets in the 2014 budget from End Hunger Fast.

To mark the start of the 40 day fasting relay, campaigners and church leaders assembled near the Houses of Parliament for a photocall, inviting the public to fast in solidarity with the thousands of Britons going hungry and calling on the Government to take action.

The earlier letter from faith leaders, including 27 Bishops, calling on the Government to act on the national crisis in UK hunger was backed up by 20 leading secular charities, including Just Fair, Oxfam and Child Poverty Action Group, who have thrown their weight behind End Hunger Fast for its official launch on Ash Wednesday in a letter to national newspapers announcing “Hunger has returned to Britain”.

The backing came as fresh statistics gathered from over 400 Trussell Trust food banks around the country vindicated the call for action. The Trussell Trust say that their food banks gave out three days’ emergency food over 600,000 times between April and December 2013, more than in the entire previous financial year (in 2012-13 Trussell Trust food banks gave out three days’ food almost 350,000 times). In addition to these figures, Church Action on Poverty and Oxfam have estimated that a total of over 500,000 people were helped by independent and Trussell Trust food banks in 2012-13. West Cheshire Foodbank has now given out emergency food to over 5000 people since November 2012; a third of these were children.

Meanwhile End Hunger Fast revealed the first wave of faith leaders, MPs, celebrities and poverty campaigners taking part in the “fasting relay” to highlight the need for the Government to act on growing hunger.

The fasting relay was launched today [Wednesday 5th] with a photocall outside parliament. Those taking part in the first week of fasting include:

Comedian Eddie Izzard

Helen Drewery, General Secretary of the Quakers

Rt Rev Michael Perham, the Bishop of Gloucester

Rt Rev Nick Holtam, the Bishop of Salisbury

Rt Rev Stephen Platten, the Bishop of Wakefield

Sarah Teather MP

Fresh research vindicates campaign

The growing body of evidence supporting the campaign was added to today with key new sources of research. New Trussell Trust figures on food banks were joined by an End Hunger Fast poll, surveying 1,000 Britons, which found that over 50% have had to tighten their belts, cutting down on food to pay other bills in the last year. One in five admit to having gone hungry to save money and 85% agreed with the campaign’s call that “no one should go hungry in Britain”.

In a further development Liz Dowler one of the Warwickshire University academics who wrote the Governments own DEFRA study into food banks has come out in support of the End Hunger Fast campaign and backing the Living Wage as a solution, noting “food banks are not a long term solution, the quantities are too small and too piecemeal to meet systematic need.”

Keith Hebden, End Hunger Fast campaign spokesperson said:

“Today is an exciting day, with so many different faith communities and sections of wider society uniting in the call to end UK hunger. We must stop and recognise the growing hunger in our midst.

“I hope others will join and fast for a day, a week or as long as they feel able, in solidarity with the half a million hungry Britons. This is a moral crisis, one we should lament as it calls us to act”

Eddie Izzard, public figure and comedian said:

“It’s shocking to see just how quickly and widely foodbanks are springing up across UK. It’s unacceptable that in the 7th richest country on earth hundreds of thousands of people would go hungry but for these local charities.

“When one in four families is cutting portion sizes and parents are skipping meals to feed their kids it’s time to act. By fasting today I hope to play my part in drawing attention to this massive and growing issue.”

David McAuley, Trussell Trust Chief Executive:

“Seeing the impact that going hungry has on a mum who is at crisis point, and the additional stress and anxiety that it causes, compels us to act. Trussell Trust food banks are providing emergency food and support to hundreds of thousands of people in crisis, but more needs to be done to find ways to resolve the underlying causes of UK hunger. Myself and many of my colleagues will join End Hunger Fast’s stand in solidarity with people in our communities who won’t have a choice about whether they eat tonight. We hope it will place a spotlight on this issue so that practical solutions can be found to help stop UK hunger.”

Helen Drewery General Secretary of Quaker Peace and Social Witness said:

“Quakers are angry that such hunger and inequality exists in Britain. So I’ll be taking part in the fasting chain because I want to stand in solidarity with people who have no choice but to go hungry and because I think that the Government needs to take the issue of hunger more seriously.”

The Bishop of Warrington and Acting Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Revd Richard Blackburn said:

“The scandal of food poverty is something churches across our diocese tackle daily. End Hunger Fast is a wake up call to society, politicians and leaders that we can no longer get away with tackling the symptoms of food poverty. Now is the time to properly protect the vulnerable from being failed by a society that should have resources to make sure no one goes hungry.”

Alec Spencer, Development Officer at West Cheshire Foodbank said:

“In West Cheshire, we’ve seen rising numbers of people forced to rely on our Foodbank. Since we opened in November 2012, we’ve provided 3 days of emergency food to over 5000 people, many of whom were children. In January alone, we provided food to over 500 people. I’d encourage everyone to get involved with End Hunger Fast and to show their support for local people in crisis. You can visit endhungerfast.co.uk to sign up and find out more”.

End Hunger Fast is calling for the Government to act immediately on welfare, wages and food markets and meet their duty of care to poor and vulnerable citizens.

- Welfare: half of all those going to food banks have been referred because of benefit delays and changes, including punitive sanctions. Regardless of changes to welfare policy and attempts to make savings, the welfare system must be there to stop people going hungry and must fulfil this mission.

- Living Wage: The majority of households in poverty and at risk from hunger are in work and 60% of them report cutting back on food to save money. Work should pay, the minimum wage and support for the Living Wage must be used to make sure of it.

- Food prices have gone up 30.5% in the last 5 years, way ahead of general inflation and way ahead of wages. At the same time the poorest among us have to pay 19% more for food in a poverty premium and more and more people are forced to buy cheap and unhealthy processed foods. Government should undertake a full review of British food markets to look at long term interventions to make them healthy, sustainable and affordable.