is there much more? i ve only got two corned beef. good exercise. it s good exercise. the charity s kitchen makes affordable meals. donations are coming in. 200 kilo this morning. it sjust amazing. and that s people sharing with us. people haven t got food in their cupboard. it s not right. food is a basic essential of life. it s not right that people are hungry and don t have food. that is not right. that needs sorting out. that s it. at the shop, visitors pay a donation for items to keep it going. for those in dire financial need there are free food parcels. we live in a really proud community, but we have some really tough challenges at the moment. out of all, 63 wards in county durham, shildon, and the areas around it, have the highest levels of poverty,
extra support measures are being introduced, and students are encouraged to come forward if they need help. we have hardship funds in place so we can give you food vouchers, we can give you some money if you need it. we ve opened a community pantry where you can receive food parcels if you re struggling to feed yourself. the government s being urged to unlock more cash to bear down on the costs of further education. a department of education spokesperson told us. those windows are single glazed, they re going to lose a lot of heat. back at the birmingham digs, the students see themselves as shareholders in the group s welfare. they have business style meetings, holding each other to account over their spending. and we need to sort out the recycling, as well because it wasn t taken.
are ashamed, or worried, or feel the stigma of having to use a food bank. so people s mental health is being impacted, whether they re using a food bank or not. they re struggling and worrying about how they re going to meet the bills for food and energy and rent. and we know that this is, you know, terrible for people. but what we re also seeing on the ground now is this terrible worry that people who are trying to support people to afford food are facing because they can t actually, they don t have the capacity to cope. recent data from the independent food aid network showed that one in five organisations were actually having to reduce the size of their food parcels because they couldn t access sufficient food, or surplus food, to be able to make up the usual parcels they had been distributing. food donations, financial donations have dropped, and food banks are having to dip into their financial reserves in order to try to cope. so the situation is really unsustainable, and we need
they are going to meet their bills forfood and energy they are going to meet their bills for food and energy and they are going to meet their bills forfood and energy and rent they are going to meet their bills for food and energy and rent and we know that this is, you know, terrible for people, but we re also seeing on the ground this terrible worry that people who are trying to support people who are to afford food are facing because they can t actually, they don t have the capacity to cope. recent data showed that one in five organisations were actually having to reduce the size of their food parcels actually having to reduce the size of theirfood parcels because actually having to reduce the size of their food parcels because they couldn t access sufficient food or surplus food to be able to make up the usual parcels they had been distributing. food donations, financial donations have dropped, and food banks are having to dip into the financial reserves in order to try to cope, so
across the country to other charities. they then provide food parcels and meals to people who need help. so it has two main aims: to reduce food poverty, and also to reduce food waste, by making sure that unwanted and unused produce doesn t end up in landfill when it s still good to eat. in 2020, it provided 55,000 tonnes of food to help vulnerable people. that equals around 2.5 million meals every week and it says around two thirds of what it distributes goes to children and families. but in recent months, fareshare says the donations from retailers are down around 200 tonnes per month, on average. they ve actually dropped by a quarter compared with this time last year. our consumer affairs correspondent colletta smith visited one of the charity s warehouses. the supermarket contribution is incredibly important because it s