Cost of living crisis: Horsham Foodbank 'desperate' for donations

They say they need both money and food because of soaring demand.

The Foodbank is run by the charity Horsham Matters which has launched an ‘It Could Be You’ campaign to increase the understanding of poverty levels among local people and how the cost-of-living crisis is affecting the whole community.

They have designated Sunday (October 16) as ‘Horsham Poverty Day’ to tie in with World Poverty Week and are asking people to organise a collection.

They say they are seeing many new foodbank users – residents on low incomes who are unable to afford the essentials and those on pensions that are not stretching far enough.

They also say they are seeing a lot of people falling further into debt in order to provide heating, clothing and food for their families.

In August, the Foodbank provided more than 900 individual food parcels – double the amount from the same time last year.

Foodbank networks and campaigns lead Amalia Lovett said: “Due to the cost-of-living crisis, we have seen residents from all walks of life having to use the foodbank. Sadly, it’s low-income families that are being hit the hardest. However, anyone of us could find ourselves in this situation. All it takes is a job

loss, long-term illness or unexpected expense.

"This is not an issue with budgeting, this is about residents not having enough money to cover the dramatic increase in bills due to the cost of living

crisis.

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“As a charity, like many others, we are being pushed to capacity, but we will continue to do all we can to help those in crisis. We have met with Horsham MP Jeremy Quin to address our concerns and emphasise that the Government needs to invest further in our social security system and uprate benefits to align with inflation.”

She added: “We asked him to stand up to protect those residents on the lowest incomes in our community.”

This is how people can help: Text FOODHELP to 70470 to donate £5.

Go to www.horsham-matters.org.uk to donate online.

Drop food items into collection points including Tesco at Broadbridge Heath, Horsham Waitrose store or at Horsham Matters premises at 1 Redkiln Close.