Many Zaankanters are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet and the food bank is also seeing this: the number of registrations is rising. The chairman of Food Bank Zaanstreek, Hans Brinkhuis, finds the situation worrying. “I expect it to be more, but that remains to be seen.”
Summer is always calm, according to Brinkhuis. Then people often have a seasonal job and make less use of the food bank. “I now see an increase,” explains the chairman of Food Bank Zaanstreek.
“You see that the number of households is increasing. Last week there were 6 new registrations, the week before 18.” He normally sees an increase of one or two households per week after the summer.
‘Déjà vu of the corona period’
Brinkhuis expects that more families will use the food bank. According to him, this is partly due to the broadening of the standard. Where previously a single parent with two children was not allowed to have more than 450 euros after paying the fixed costs, this has now been increased to 520 euros. For someone who lives alone, the amount has gone from 250 to 300 euros.
With the increasing number of registrations, the chairman has a déjà vu from the corona period. “I find the situation worrying.” At that time there were 320 households that made use of a food package, now there are 230 households. If the number exceeds 300, it’s ‘all hands on deck’ again.
Less fresh products
Krommenieer Corrie Blanken is one of the households that uses the food bank. She sees that there are fewer and fewer fresh products in the food package. Brinkhuis explains that it is always challenging to get good fresh products. Last week it was about one broccoli, some apples, sliced vegetables and bananas. “Some weeks are better than others, help is always needed. We also buy additional fruit and vegetables to achieve a reasonable standard.”
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The perseverants: these North Hollanders can’t make it anymore
Inflation is rising to great heights and energy is almost unaffordable. Many North Hollanders can barely keep their heads above water, for many others it is becoming increasingly difficult. Big problems that affect everyday people. We call them: the perseverants. NH Nieuws will go to The Hague with this group of people on Prinsjesdag. So that we can share these harrowing stories with national politicians.
Get to know our perseverants and their stories. You can find all their stories on this page.
Today Corrie is going to The Hague. Together with other North Hollanders she hopes to run into a minister there. Corrie wants to make it clear that healthy food should become cheaper.
Need help
Food Bank Zaanstreek currently has stock for about two weeks. Normally this is for three to four weeks. That is why a major shopping promotion is on the agenda again in mid-November. Brinkhuis: “That’s great, we get a lot out of it.”
In addition, they call various producers and buy from them. “The question is how long can you keep that up?” Money donations are therefore very welcome, according to Brinkhuis. “We hope for solidarity from Zaandam society to help in this bleak period, which will definitely come, in order to get through the autumn and winter.”