In 2000, Paddy Henderson received a call from a mother in Salisbury, while fundraising for Bulgaria. She told him ‘my children are going to bed hungry tonight – what are you going to do about it’. Shocked to find on investigation that so many local people faced short term hunger resulting from sudden crises, Paddy started a foodbank in his garden shed providing three days of emergency food to local people in critical need.
In 2004 Paddy Henderson and his wife set up the Trussel Trust on the model that he had already developed. So the UK foodbank was launched teaching churches and communities how to set up their own foodbank.
Helped by churches, schools, individuals, Borough Council, businesses, charities and, especially, by individuals our local Trussel Trust foodbank based in the Purfleet Trust has helped to provide food for 1456 people in crisis (a tonne of food per month).
Next year, increased household bills, potential job losses, especially in the public sector, and welfare reform will increase the demand.
We can put the question to ourselves: what are we going to do about it?
John Cairns