The Trussell Trust gave hungry Britons 2.5m food parcels in the last year. A million were for children. Its CEO talks about the failure of the benefits system, the strains of the pandemic – and her awe at the people who step up to help
Among the shiny glass and steel riverside developments in south-west London is a huge shed. It used to be Currys PC World; people still wander in looking for a washing machine or laptop. But now it’s full of food – donated food stacked in crates and plastic boxes.
I’m meeting Emma Revie, the CEO of the Trussell Trust, the network that supports more than 1,200 food bank centres around the UK, including this one. Revie, 45, volunteers here at Wandsworth food bank as well as running the umbrella organisation. There are also about 900 other independent food banks in the country. Food banks in the Trussell Trust network distributed 2.5m food parcels in the year to April 2021 – a third more than in the previous year. A million of those were for children.
