Bolsover foodbank receives £7,500 cash from Derbyshire County Council

According to figures released by the UK’s biggest food bank network The Trussell Trust the number of people relying on food banks to survive has tripled over the last year.

Derbyshire County Council Cabinet member for Health and Communities Councillor Dave Allen said: “The rising cost of living, static incomes, changes to benefits and unemployment have meant increasing numbers of people in the UK have hit a crisis that forces them to go hungry.

“It’s been termed a public health emergency by leading medical experts and we feel it is the right thing to do to support working people on low incomes and those in the most severe financial need who are struggling to put food on the table.

“Lack of proper nutrition not only has a huge impact on people’s physical and mental health but also on the health and local authority support services they increasingly have to rely on if the situation is not addressed.

“We hope this round of grant funding goes a little way to start supporting food banks that are facing increasing pressure to feed more people.”

Food banks who successfully applied for funding will start to receive their grants from next month.

There are currently 21 food banks in Derbyshire which are run by charities and non-profit organisations and mainly run by volunteers – and more are starting up all the time.

For local food bank contact details visit www.advicederbyshire.org