Focus on foodbanks
11th January 2010
Focus on foodbanks
The establishment of the Penryn and Falmouth Foodbank in 2009 coincided with the backlog in the student loan system. As an expression of Christian outreach, it was much appreciated.
Methodist minister, Rose Westwood, who is a university chaplain based in Falmouth says: `A student with refugee status, who had survived on porridge for a week, received a food parcel. His astonished gratitude was reward enough!`
Foodbank has an interesting history. The Trussell Trust, set up in 1997 by husband and wife, Paddy and Carol Henderson, was originally established to help young people in Bulgaria. Its work was reported in The Salisbury Journal in Wiltshire and prompted a call from a mother who wanted to point out that whilst the trust was busy feeding people overseas, her children in the UK were going to bed hungry.
Paddy and a small focus group carried out a great deal of detailed research, including looking at the indices of deprivation for Wiltshire, which confirmed the shocking fact that thousands of people were living on the edge of poverty. So in 1999, they set up the first foodbank in Salisbury, using funding from a legacy.
The foodbank project is now a national franchise with projects launched right across the UK, including centres at Bude, Liskeard & Looe, Penryn & Falmouth, Truro and Wadebridge.
http://www.trusselltrust.org/content/foodbank/foodbank.htm