Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Wood has called on people to support the foodbank network over the festive period at a time when the service is in high demand.
The AM for South Wales Central has for the last two years championed the foodbank network which supplies three-day emergency food packages to those in crisis. In recent weeks some foodbanks have experienced unprecedented demand.
For example, the Cardiff Foodbank has distributed three tonnes of food in as many weeks but has managed to keep pace with the same volume of donations coming in. In November alone they fed 365 people.
Ms Wood said: “The foodbanks of Wales are in more demand than they have ever been. This is not just borne out by the pressure placed on individual foodbanks like the Cardiff one but by an almost doubling in the coverage of areas since January of last year.
“With many more foodbanks planned for the coming years, it is clear that the demand for emergency food packages is anticipated to continue.
“There really should not be a need for such a service. If we did not live in a state with some of the highest inequality levels in Europe there would not be a need for emergency food packages.
“While making our society more equitable may have to be a long-term project, in the here and now there is a real, urgent need to assist people who are struggling with the basic requirements to survive.
“This is why I am calling on people to show their support by donating non-perishable food to their local foodbank at one of their forthcoming monthly supermarket collections.
“Most foodbanks have their own websites and details of their collections can be found there.”
In the next few months the Cardiff foodbank will be collecting at:
Tesco Culverhouse Cross – Fri 27th January and Saturday 28th January, Waitrose Pontprennau Saturday 3rd March, Sainsbury’s Thornhill Saturday 24th March, Asda Cardiff Gate Saturday 5th May Tesco Culverhouse Cross – Friday 15th June and Saturday 16th June.
