Lincoln Food Bank Use Decreases Against National Increase

A charity has reported that food bank utilization in Lincoln has decreased by 20% over the past year. The Acts Trust, which operates the city’s two largest food banks, stated that more than 1,000 individuals have ceased relying on the service. This success is attributed to initiatives designed to address the underlying causes of food poverty, including targeted financial advice. Amy Colley, from the charity, commented: “Every year, I’ve seen rise, on rise, on rise of people needing to use the food bank. This is the first year we’ve seen a significant decrease.” These figures contrast with the trend reported by the Trussell Trust, an organization that supports a nationwide network of food banks. The Trussell Trust indicated that its users had increased from 2.99 million to 3.12 million during the same period. The Acts Trust mentioned its collaboration with organizations that refer individuals to food banks, encouraging them to conduct “need assessments.” These assessments are intended to determine how an individual might benefit from other forms of assistance, such as job clubs, financial advice, and life skills. “If you just give somebody a food parcel and nothing else, you’ve just given them three days’ worth of food and that’s it,” Ms Colley explained. “It’s not really going to get to the root cause of what they’re facing. What happens when they finish those three days? They’re going to be in exactly the same situation.” The charity, which aims to “empower” people to end poverty, noted a surge in the popularity of its community grocery shop, which sells surplus produce at a discount. Dianne Appleton has been a consistent user of the Lincoln Community Grocery since its opening. “If we didn’t have it I’d have to manage, but it would mean cutting down,” she stated. “They do all the different meats here. You can get chicken and all sorts.” Ms Colley expressed encouragement regarding the success of these initiatives, but acknowledged that considerable work remains. She added: “This is the first real encouraging step that we’re seeing a shifting tide. We’re not going to stop until we get there. Hopefully it means we’re all out of a job, but if that happens it means we’ve done our job really well.”