From BZ/dpa
More and more needy people in Berlin who cannot afford a lot of groceries are turning to the Tafel.
“We have more than 100 percent growth at almost all distribution points,” said the founder and honorary chairwoman of the Berliner Tafel, Sabine Werth, on Friday to the RBB Inforadio. “We have to try to stretch the sometimes small amount of food.”
Among them are refugees from Ukraine, said Werth. “But there are also a lot of people who have always lived in Berlin and who say of themselves, ‘We actually thought we were fine’.”
Some of them lost their jobs due to Corona and used up the savings and therefore had to go to the Tafel. “And we hear that alarmingly often. We’re trying our best and we’ll just have to see how far we can get with the whole thing.”
Sabine Werth, chairwoman of the Berliner Tafel, at the Berlin wholesale market Photo: Siegfried Purschke
In addition, their work is made more difficult by retailers’ greater reluctance to give away groceries for free. “The trade naturally wants to act,” said Werth. “And I totally understand that. Of course, they are now all looking for ways to earn a little more money.”
This includes selling groceries at lower prices shortly before closing time, giving the people who buy them a good feeling. “They are saving food at the moment,” said Werth. “But the flip side of the coin is that these are the groceries that we would have actually picked up as a bar the next day.”
At the same time, the costs for the panels have increased – for example for diesel fuel. “What we will all find very difficult to bear is the price increase that will come next year in the utility bills,” said Werth. “I’m looking forward to very bad times again.”
The Berliner Tafel, which is financed entirely by donations, says it supports 400 social facilities such as shelters for the homeless, women’s shelters, children’s and youth facilities and those that help with the cold.