The number of people reporting to the food bank has increased in recent weeks, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to fill all those food packages, according to a tour of Omroep Brabant.
We asked the food banks in our province whether they had recently seen more or fewer buyers. 79% see an increase in people in the past six weeks. On average, the number of registrations increased by about 15%. At the same time, the food banks indicate that it is becoming increasingly difficult to get supplies. 71% has difficulty with this, a fifth of them even indicate that it is no longer possible to fill the packages.
‘Too Good To Go’ App
The latter is mainly due to the more sustainable behavior of supermarkets. Due to the rising prices, (discounted) products are sold better than before. Supermarkets would also buy differently, leaving less or nothing at all: “For some time, empty shelves have no longer been a mortal sin”, the food bank in Geldrop notes.
Something has also changed among vegetable growers: due to the high energy costs, they no longer use their entire space, which means they produce less, says someone from the food bank in Best and the surrounding area.
Using the ‘Too Good To Go’ app also comes into play. With this app, supermarkets can offer their surpluses at a low price. They sell items that might otherwise end up at the food bank. At the Hart voor Minima food bank in Helmond, they notice that especially fruit and vegetables are hardly supplied anymore for that reason. They have therefore decided to stop their food bank.
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But who are the people who suffer from this? The food banks say they have seen many ‘new faces’ recently, especially Ukrainian refugees. But old acquaintances are also reporting again, for example because they have run into problems due to rising energy costs. Self-employed entrepreneurs who are having a hard time but do not want to receive social assistance at all costs are also mentioned.
As a solution, some food banks choose to ‘buy extra’ items themselves, this can be done with the money earned from fundraising campaigns. Public campaigns in the shops (‘Buy an extra product for the food bank’) can also contribute something, according to the food bank in Breda.
It will not be due to the efforts of the employees, for example, several food banks indicate that they will do their best to obtain supplies. An employee of the food bank in Eindhoven: “We will do everything we can to keep the food packages quantitatively and qualitatively high.”