'Significant' increase in people turning to food banks prompts Suz's challenge

A “SIGNIFICANT” increase in the number of people resorting to foodbanks in the Teesdale area has led to a project co-ordinator challenging herself live off a food parcel for a week.

StoreHouse is run in Barnard Castle and Richmond by the Influence Church. Demand at Richmond has gone from an average of 15 clients per week in 2016 to 28 in 2017. For both sites, the number of people using the service has gone up by more than double.

Suz Gregory, the co-ordinator of StoreHouse, believes the initiative is only scratching the surface in Teesdale and that the need is greater than the number of users.

She decided to raise money to help fund the service by challenging herself to live off an adult’s weekly food parcel.

She said: “I wanted to set myself this challenge to give myself a much greater insight into the needs of the people who use our foodbank. I wanted to find out if the food we give out each week was enough. If there was enough variety to create healthy meals, or was there things missing. I wanted to see how easy it was to live off a food parcel and if we needed to offer extra information like meal plans for example.”

She said: “The main thing was that I didn’t go hungry. However, I lost weight, felt very tried and didn’t sleep well. I also noticed my skin became drier and spottier and my mood felt generally low. It did make me think about the clients that use StoreHouse – many of them are often are in difficult situations financially, having lost jobs or benefits, and this food can’t be helping their situation.”

It has led to more fresh food being introduced, as well as £420 being raised.

“We are fortunate to work with FareShare [which saves good food destined for waste] and so we often receive fruit and vegetables which are past their best and can’t be sold. We are able to give this to our clients – it’s making such a difference.”

The increased number of people who use the service has drastically reduced stock levels. StoreHouse is now looking for businesses or individuals to sponsor the food bank so they can continue to meet the high demand.

The Influence Church is also hoping to raise the profile of the foodbank in Barnard Castle, which is based at the church’s centre in Galgate.

Jonny Foster, from the church, said: “We’re finding people are still not aware of it. There was one lady who ended up going to a foodbank in Bishop Auckland despite one being here in Barnard Castle.”

Contact Influence Church on 01748 823161.