Support that is disappearing, higher prices: North Holland food banks expect crowds

Pay more for your bread, gas, beer or fish† The more expensive life will break up more and more people. The Gooise food bank is slowly but surely seeing more registrations. Coordinator Gert Haas expects this effect to become more visible in the coming months. “That falls with the enormous influx of refugees that we will expect in the Netherlands. They are probably also entitled to a food package.”

The food bank Kop Van Noord in Anna Pauwlona also thinks that registrations ‘will most likely grow’, although it is still too early to indicate whether there are major differences. “But they will come,” said an employee.

Support is gone

It is never possible to obtain an accurate picture of the number of people in need of food aid. According to Gert Haas, there are four times as many people who do qualify for this, but have never registered.

For example, there are people who are financially helped by relatives or friends, and therefore do not have to rely on the food bank yet. But prices will also rise for those supporters, so that a group of people may still need a food package because their support is no longer available.

Marja Ernste of Food Bank Amstelveen mentions another factor that can increase the demand for food parcels: “If I am correct, government support for small businesses will disappear in April. These people will probably also have a hard time being able to pay for everything. .”

Shame

Where previously a ‘relatively small group’ experienced support from the food bank, this will become ‘more normal’, according to Ernste. And that means that more and more people will be confronted with the decision whether or not to go to the food bank.

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This is often accompanied by shame. Ernste: “When people are here and receive information during their first conversation, they often indicate that they have been in the area before, but literally did not dare to cross the threshold. Some hesitate for a month before taking the first step.”

Maintain stock

Fortunately, there are enough volunteers at the Amstelveen food bank to prepare the packages, but the problem lies elsewhere: “It will be a thing to keep our stock up to standard,” says Ernste. For example, it is difficult to give fresh products to people, because these products ‘often do not remain fresh until the moment of issue’.

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With donations from Amstelveen residents that the food bank now receives regularly, vegetables or fruit can still be bought. But it remains to be seen whether this will still be enough with an increasing demand for food packages.

Although there is still a lot of uncertainty about the exact course of the increasing demand for food parcels, Gert Haas sees no reason for problems for the Gooise food bank. “We will put our shoulders to the wheel anyway.”