Shoreham foodbank use quadruples during coronavirus pandemic

Figures show 2,855 people have been served by the foodbank between March 23 and August 18 this year, compared to 715 over the same period in 2019.

Volunteer Dai Hudd said the pandemic had brought huge logistical and social challenges and increased demand would be here for the ‘long, long haul’.

“In the first lockdown, the firstcouple of weeks were horrendous,” he said.

“We went from people coming in to collect and us not doing any deliveries, to delivering 50-60 parcels a week.”

Volunteers stepped up to be delivery drivers, said Dai, and the foodbank began putting together set packages for households in a complete shake-up of its operation.

Over the 21-week period in the summer, 1,881 packages were delivered to people’s homes, with 974 people collecting from the Shoreham Free Church in Buckingham Road.

Similar to the experience of Worthing’s foodbank, Dai said they were seeing people from all walks of life asking for help.

Asking for help is a ‘huge emotional barrier’ for some to cross, he said, remembering users pacing the car park outside plucking up the courage to come in.

“Some people do still feel that stigma,” said Dai.

“We call ourselves a resilient society and like to think we can stand up for ourselves, but it isn’t working at the minute.”

Struggling self-employed people are becoming more common and furloughed workers, who have burned through their savings to top up their wages, are a regular sight.

An increase in unemployment has also contributed to the rise, which is only expected to worsen as more redundancies are announced.

But Dai said, so far, the community had been ‘magnificent’ in its support, meaning there has just about always been enough to go round.

But as more people started to struggle, he said the fear was they may not be in a position to be as generous as in the early days of the pandemic.

“No donation is too small,” he said.

“Don’t think your four or five cans of vegetables or little boxes isn’t enough.

“Everything we get is more than used and is more than needed – the little donations all add up.

“Sadly, I think we are in this for the long, long haul.”