Between September and December last year, the foodbank distributed 1,212 bags of food from its Lewis Street premises compared with 434 in the corresponding period the previous year.
Describing it as ‘inevitable’, given the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, general manager Vini Jones said that their biggest source of encouragement was that the amount of food donated by the Island kept pace with the increased demand.
‘It was obvious that there was going to be an increase and it is enormous but this is really about the fact that the Jersey folk can meet the need when it’s crunch time.
‘People gave us food and if they couldn’t do that they gave financially for us to buy the food or for running Grace Trust and that to me is amazing. We could offer this service to Jersey people and say this is from Jersey folk and nowhere else. It’s from supermarkets, banks, the financial sector generally, companies, schools, churches
and a really generous public,’ Mr Jones said.
Figures show that 315 individuals collected 1,626 bags of food during the period from January to March and from September to December. During the first lockdown and its aftermath the trust collaborated with the Salvation Army and the St Vincent de Paul Society making it impossible to make direct comparisons over the full year.
Those who benefited ranged in age from a teenager to one person in their 80s but the largest numbers came from those in their thirties and forties.
‘Normally those are your best years in life when you need to be getting on with it and laying your foundations. To be of that age and to have to walk down Lewis Street and knock on a door and say “I’m sorry but I’m struggling” – that’s not brilliant to me,’ Mr Jones said.
Figures show that 60% of those using the service took advantage of it no more than three times but 3.7% of the users accounted for 229 of the visits, demonstrating that while the majority required occasional assistance in times of difficulty, a small number required support every week.
Mr Jones stressed that the foodbank’s stocks and its continuing donations were also good, allied to the fact the demand was decreasing following the Christmas period.
‘We are very lucky in our standing in the community,’ he said.
