Demand for charity food handouts up 36% in north

There has been a 36% increase in demand for charity food handouts in the Highlands. The rise in demand from facilities in Inverness and Invergordon has prompted an urgent appeal for donations to restock their shelves.

The plea is seen by those in the front line as a stark indicator of an ever widening rich-poor divide in 21st-century Britain.

Issy Freudenthal, of Evanton-based Blythswood, which runs the Highland Food Bank at the Free Church Hall on Madras Street in Inverness, has told members of the Inverness Church of Scotland Presbytery that the service provided emergency food supplies last year to 3,625 local people referred by social services and other agencies.

A new Invergordon food bank which serves Easter Ross accounted for 497 of referrals.

The increase was largely attributed to the recession. The most common reason for people using the service was delayed benefit payments, accounting for 43% of referrals. Other reasons were low income (15%), homelessness (11%) and debt (6%).

Ms Freudenthal said referrals were not only from deprived areas of Inverness, but included people from the supposedly affluent Crown area of the city.

Food bank clients now travel from as far as Culloden, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, Skye, Caithness and Sutherland.

Praising the support of the Inverness Presbytery, Ms Freudenthal said that demands on the food bank’s resources continued unabated.

In an attempt to restock supplies of staple items, Blythswood has appealed to local churches to donate more basic food items.

In a letter to local churches, appeal co-ordinator Lorna Dempster states: “I’d really appreciate your help in encouraging as many people as possible within your congregation to help ensure that the food bank continues to meet the needs of everyone referred to us.”

She has asked each church supporting the facility to focus on specific items from an extensive shopping list.

The fallout from comparatively low wages and deepening debt in the north are regularly emphasised by statistics from the Inverness Citizens Advice Bureau.

Its manager, Alasdair Christie, told the Press and Journal: “Something needs to be done, both at Westminster and Holyrood to stop this continuing escalation of debt.

“It’s all very well to say the recession is coming to an end. The problem is that people in £15,000 to £20,000 worth of debt – which is the lower end of what we’re dealing with – can take years to recover and people unfortunate enough to have had their home repossessed may never recover fully.”

He described a report last week by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, highlighting the £1,500billion level of consumer debt, as “a wake-up call”.

He said: “It confirms what we have been saying for some time. Levels of personal debt are reaching crisis point, not least in Scotland.”

Last year Scottish CABs dealt with debt issues amounting to more than £270million – £7million of that involving people who sought help from the Inverness branch.

Madras Street Free Church Hall in Inverness is open for food donations from noon to 2pm between Tuesdays and Fridays.