Rising rents and an increase in seasonal workers meant more people were unable to put food on the table, the Valletta food bank’s administrator said ahead of one of the charity’s busiest periods of the year.
Reverend Kim Hurst, of the Foodbank Lifeline Foundation, told the Times of Malta more than 300 food packets, which together fed about 1,300 people, had been handed out last month alone, with demand expected to in-crease in the coming months.
“This time of year, we get a lot of people involved in seasonal work who are laid off at the end of summer or, if they’re working in construction, when the weather turns.
The time between their work ending and starting to receive benefits is often an incredibly difficult one,” she said.
Rev. Hurst said rent prices had also become a crisis for many people and she had seen cases of people moving their families back in to their parents’ homes to cope, resulting in three or more generations living under one roof.
“When we started, the average rent was €300 and the average take-home pay was €900. Now the average take-home pay is slightly over €1,000 but the average rent is €800, which means there is almost nothing left at the end of the month,” she noted.
The food bank provides short-term help in the form of seven-day emergency packets to those who cannot afford food, on the basis of referrals from child protection, mental health and oncology services as well as entities such as Caritas, Sedqa and the Jesuit Refugee Service.
Rev. Hurst said it received the bulk of its donations over the Christmas period, including through a Reverse Advent Calendar campaign, encouraging people to donate one food item a day between December 1 and 24.
Appealing to individuals, companies and organisations to donate, she said the food the charity received this month often sustained its services for most of the following year.
Anyone wishing to donate non-perishable food items can do so at the food bank in Old Bakery Street, Valletta, through collection boxes at Valyou, Smart and Pama supermarkets or Quicklets outlets around the island.
More information can be found at www.foodbanklifeline.com.