Trim food bank ‘struggling’ to keep up with demand as expenses rise

Hannah McNamara

A LOCAL food bank managed to distribute 1,883 food parcels to families in the South-Meath region in 2023, a major increase of 465 from the previous year.

Members of the Trim Family Resource Centre Food Bank have said they need more support in order to cover the costs of this vital service which serves families who are struggling to make ends meet, especially during this cost of living crisis.

They've also said that the stigma surrounding food banks and their users needs to end.

Last year the Trim community food bank redistributed 19,021kg of surplus food in Meath, in partnership with non-profit organisation, FoodCloud. Their estimated value of food redistributed was over €45,000.

Justyna Doherty, Trim FRC Coordinator explained the way the service operates: "We collect roughly three times a week from our local supermarkets such as Lidl, Aldi and Tesco. We get notified of the store donations through an app called Foodiverse. All we have to do is accept the donations through the app and then our volunteers collect it from the store.

"The food products are then brought back to our premises where we divide it up and begin organising the parcels.

"Everyone who is registered with us will receive an SMS message asking whether they'd like to collect a parcel that week. When they respond to our text message service, we give each person an allocated time to collect the goods."

As of the beginning of 2024, families who wish to receive the food parcels are asked to pay €5 weekly. Elaine Casey, Trim FRC Community Food Bank Administrator said: "Up until the end of 2023 the food parcels were free. However, with the costs of electricity rising and having other bills to pay such as legal costs, the food bank is quite expensive to run. It can be a bit of a struggle when it comes to operational costs."

She added: "We don't receive any government funding on a week to week basis and so we've had to start charging for the food parcels to help sustain the charity."

Each food parcel contains over €50 worth of food items, meaning families are still receiving major help with their grocery costs, despite the €5 weekly fee.

Funding isn't the only support that the food bank urgently needs, they are also always searching for volunteers. Justyna said: "Without our volunteers, the charity would simply be impossible to run."

She added: "We currently have three part-time staff and five volunteers. We're always looking for more people to join our team of volunteers. We need all the help we can get."

Anyone who is looking to volunteer for the charity can contact them on info@trimfrc.ie or 046 9438850.

Justyna and Elaine say that there is a stigma about people using food banks which "needs to be removed".

"A food bank is a community resource available to anyone who needs a helping hand, regardless of the circumstances," said Elaine.

"When people let go of the stigma, we here at TFRC have an open door to empathy. We understand families struggle to make ends meet. We support every individual with no judgement, we are here to support everyone no matter the situation."

Justyna added: "We want people to know that there's absolutely nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed of. Everyone's circumstances are different. There's no specific criteria you have to meet. All you have to do is come down to our centre and register with us."

According to Elaine, a common misconception about food banks, is that the food is expired, "gone bad" or has little time left. Responding to this rumour, she said: "The food is always good, it has great expiry dates. Sometimes were even lucky enough to get fresh bread from the supermarkets, bread only made that morning that was never purchased."

The Trim Family Resource Centre Food Bank was established in 2001 in response to a need to tackle disadvantage and poverty in Trim. Beginning with only one small room to store food, the charity now have three rooms with fridges and freezers allocated to food storage. Elaine said: "Having the appropriate infrastructure is so important for a food bank. We need the space for storing the food and for packing the parcels."

With the need for the bank growing each year, Elaine mentioned some of the future plans they have for the service: "We'd like to set up as a social enterprise. This would mean we could apply for grants and expand to other parts of the county.

"Right now we're limited to the south of Meath but we've had people from Navan and other surrounding towns asking for help however their not in our sector.

"Becoming a social enterprise would mean we could afford to sustain the service as well as help more families in need."