Hunger is income problem not a food issue

An emergency food service says more people are turning to them for help than ever before.

Cambridge City Foodbank gave out 17,666 emergency food parcels last year, 20% more than in 2023.

The service said in some cases parents had been going without food so their children could eat, or were making items like one tea bag last a week.

Senior organiser, Kate McIntosh, said hunger in Cambridge was not always a food problem, but more of an income issue.

Visitors to the foodbank receive a parcel with three days’ of nutritionally balanced food for everyone in their household.

Ms McIntosh said that, thanks to the generosity of others, the service was able to keep food on its shelves – but it was becoming stretched as more people sought help.

“It doesn’t come down to if people are able to budget or not, it’s the fact there is just not enough money in the first place to stretch to cover people’s essential needs,” she said.

“There are so many more people turning to us for the first time and a lot more people needing to rely on us more than once.

“They don’t turn to us because they don’t know where their supermarket is or how to cook… people are making impossible choices between heating or doing a food shop.”

The foodbank said that, nationally, 86% of people who experienced food insecurity would not seek out help.

It added when people did come to them for help it was because they were “really pushed to the limit”.

Ms McIntosh said: “When people do visit us, quite often they have been going without food for quite some time because it can take a lot of courage to turn up.

“This is in Cambridge on our doorstep. This is people’s neighbours, friends, colleagues – it’s becoming such a common experience.”