Page 33 - LUDLOW TOWER FEB 22 (WEBSITE)

Ludlow Food Bank
2021 Annual Report
Many people living in Ludlow need the
help of the Food Bank, some on a
regular basis and many as a ‘one off. In
2021 we gave out more food parcels and
helped more people than ever before.
For the first time the group receiving
the larges share of parcels represented
single parent families rather than single
men. The number of parcels and the
number of children helped reached
record highs in December, when we
added a ‘Christmas Hamper’ to each
food parcel.
The majority of
the parcels
(77.2%) went to
people living in
Ludlow although
39 went to
people in Craven
Arms, 20 to
people in
Bucknell and
small numbers
Christmas hampers to various
ready for delivery smaller villages.
As in 2020, the largest referrers have
been people contacting us asking for a
food parcel for themselves. We preferred
it when people were referred via social
services, but now that our contact
details are in the public domain it is
difficult to reverse this trend.
Shropshire Council are trying to offer
more of a ‘Cash first’ solution to people
who are struggling but accessing their
help usually involves a long phone call,
which can deter people.
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Benefit delays or sanctions are still the
biggest reason given for needing a food
parcel, but simply not having enough
money, even for people who are
working, is catching up. Nineteen cases
were purely down to Covid 19 - often
having to isolate and being unable to
access food online while 14 food parcels
went to people who had suffered
domestic abuse and 7 to people who
had run out of money having just moved
to a new home. Five people were
victims of theft.
As well as parcels we give vouchers for
greengrocers (Farmers and the Fruit
Basket), butchers (Walls, Griffiths and
Carters), bakers (Waltons, Prices and
Swifts) and delis )The Mousetrap, Harp
Lane Deli, Broad Bean and Cicchetti).
This very successful scheme enables
people to buy fresh food of their choice
as well as supporting local businesses.
Last year we bought back over £19,000
worth of vouchers at these local shops.
In 2022 we will be taking over the Fuel
Poverty Scheme from the Furniture
Scheme. The fund is quite limited and
we plan to only provide help to people
referred by external agencies, most
often Connexus.
To read the full report go to:
https://www.ludlowbaptistchurch.org.uk/
our-church/foodbank.
Ruth Davies
Ludlow Food Bank
Showing God’s love to people in
crisis