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'We receive toys, but kids need food at Christmas'

BBC Ben Moore Emma Lander from the Sustain Foodbank in Tonbridge packing up bags of food BBC Ben Moore
Emma Lander packs bags of food at the Sustain Foodbank

Foodbank volunteers say the number of food parcels they hand out has increased by a third in the last year.

Sustain foodbank, part of Tonbridge Baptist Church, says it provides the main source of food for more than 90 families a week.

Food parcels from the church, which is on the Trench housing estate, have increased from 3,000 to nearly 4,000 from 2023 to 2024.

A Government spokesperson said: "The mass dependence on foodbanks is unacceptable."

Manager Emma Lander said: "We often get offered toys as donations at Christmas but actually we're just interested in getting people fed."

BBC Ben Moore People in a queue outside Sustain Foodbank in Tonbridge BBC Ben Moore
The number of food parcels distributed by Sustain Foodbank has risen in the last year

As well as tinned and packeted donations. The foodbank receives donations of fresh food, bread and meat from supermarkets.

Its festive parcels, handed out in the week before Christmas, also contain a £20 supermarket voucher and a box of chocolates.

The foodbank says more than a third of the children in the community live in food poverty, which means they are missing at least a meal a day.

Tara, who has three children, told BBC South East a lot of families would go hungry without the foodbank.

"'I'm a single mum and I manage to make quite a few meals out of it, so it encourages the kids to at a bit healthier," she said.

The parcels last most families between three to four days.

As well as food, Sustain also offers advice and an opportunity to talk.

User Sarah says: "It feels like home every time I come in here."

BBC Ben Moore Church minister Neil Durling standing in front of a row of houses in TonbridgeBBC Ben Moore
Neil Durling is a Minister at Tonbridge Baptist Church

The church's minister, Neil Durling, grew up on the Trench estate.

He said: "A single father came in and we gave him a donated supermarket turkey.

"He cried because all he had to give his children on Christmas day was bacon sandwiches."

According to the Trussell Trust more than 1.4 million emergency food parcels were distributed to people experiencing hardship between 1 April and 30 September 2024.

That was 69% higher than the same period five years ago.

A record 9.3 million people - including one in five children - are now facing hunger and hardship in the UK, according to the anti-poverty charity.

The government said it was extending the Household Support Fund, increasing the National Living Wage and boosting benefits.

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