Across the UK, charities that offer food and essential household goods are facing record levels of demand as underlying economic and social issues are laid bare by the pandemic. How are they rising to the growing challenge?
“This pandemic has amplified issues of food insecurity that have been around for many years – but it’s also tipped people who were just getting by over the line,” says Alasdair Bennett, chief executive of Bethany Christian Trust, a charity that helps thousands of vulnerable people across Scotland every year.
For Bennett, the most visible impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has been an enormous rise in dependency on the services the charity provides. “We’ve been inundated with requests for our help,” he says. “What we’ve seen is more and more people struggling with their personal income and unable to afford the basics like food. This includes people and families who have never needed support in this way before.”
