Demand for Food Aid Spikes in Britain, suggesting low-incomes households are still struggling despite the end of the recession.
According to the Associated Press, Trussell Trust, a Christian charity that operates food banks throughout the country, reported that just fewer than 356,000 people received three days of emergency food between April and September. This is about 10,000 more than their entire 2012-2013 financial year.
"This is disturbing," Chris Mould, the trust's executive chairman, told the AP. "It's not going away, it's getting worse."
Mould has tried to appeal to the government to launch an inquiry into the cause of hunger in the United Kingdom. He fears, with winter approaching, the worst part may be yet to come.
A growing number of people in Britain are living on incomes that are not able to cover the rising cost of food, gas, electricity, fuel and transportation. Gas and electricity cost are reportedly up 30 percent since 2007. Mould said many people this winter will have to choose between eating and heating.
"People at food banks have started giving back food items that need cooking because they can't afford to turn on the electricity," the trust said in a statement.
The British Red Cross, who has not been involved in food distribution on a wide scale in Britain since World War II, announced it would have 30,000 volunteers help in a massive food drive at the end of November.
According to the AP, numbers show a steady increase in the amount of people needing help to eat. In 2000, when the trust began, it served 600 people at one site. By 2009, that figure climbed to nearly 26,000 at 60 sites. The trust currently has 400 sites that operate in conjunction with churches and charitable institutions.
Britain's government said it's not surprising the number of users would increase as the number of food banks increase.
"For almost 75 years people have come to Citizens Advice for help with dept issues but increasingly our client are coming to us just to put food on the table that night," said Gillian Guy, the chief of the national charity Citizens Advice.
