With costs of food and fuel rising significantly it is no surprise that more people in our community are experiencing hardship. The number of clients attending Rye Food Bank has increased by more than 30% in the past few months.
Thankfully, we are able to continue providing food to help meet the basic needs for families in crisis. Most of our mums and dads are in work but struggle to make ends meet. Costs have risen significantly and budgets are squeezed to breaking point. Anyone visiting Rye Food Bank will receive, as a minimum, a food parcel that consists of three meals per day, per person in the household, for three days.
Our welfare service (benefits and housing advice) is in steady demand. As our main purpose is to help people through crisis we seek to provide advice and active assistance to improve their situation, whatever problems they may have.
Rye food bank collaborates closely with Family Support Work and Gill Sutton who is very focused on children especially in the run up to Christmas. Gill is working to help provide essentials like warm winter coats and boots.
We are noticing a rise in the number of children living in poverty and the struggle for parents to provide the things children need in winter. Many of our clients, who are claiming Universal Credit, will skip meals in order to save money to spend on paying bills or food for their families. Where the government has put in place some help towards the high costs of fuel, the cost-of-living crisis has a devastating effect on those forced to survive on the lowest incomes.
Numbers of children
We closely monitor our operations and from the 155 households who have visited Rye Food Bank in the last two months 81 have children. Of these, the total number of children aged 15 or below is 189.
Rye Food Bank is currently helping 38 children aged 12 -15, 85 children aged 5 – 12 and 57 children aged 1 -5. We supply baby food and baby care products to the mothers and fathers of 9 babies aged less than one.
If you are concerned about the practical welfare of children in hardship, living in Rye and the surrounding area, please donate to Family Support Work. Gill Sutton, who is dedicated to Rye for three days per week, is planning to supply Christmas hampers to families. Also she needs to supply warm coats and winter boots. If you do make a donation to Family Support please make sure you state it is for Gill Sutton and Rye.
Account name: Chichester Diocesan Association for Family Support Work.
Account number 40257133.
Sort Code 20-12-75.
Reference (your surname) Rye.
Alternatively, you can donate online.
No Christmas hampers
Your generous donations throughout the year and especially at Christmas have historically allowed us to present our clients with hampers for Christmas. When the Methodist church was open, in Church Square, Rye Food Bank had exclusive use of the lower ground level for storage of food stocks. This has now closed and we have very little storage space in the Baptist Hall, albeit the best the Baptist church can provide in their premises.
Reluctantly we have had to make the difficult decision to not provide Christmas hampers this year. However, we will be able to give additional generous goods but not in the boxed and gift-wrapped form as previously.
We do not have the room to store the goods or make up the hampers. This does not mean, however, that our clients won’t receive festive goods and more food than usual. We are planning to be able to be generous.
Donating to the Food Bank is one of the most important ways you can help your community at this time. We need to ensure we have adequate stocks of food to meet demand and to ensure we do our best to help.
Massive thank you to all our benefactors
Your donations are hugely appreciated, no matter how large or small. Every penny donated directly benefits those in our community who are struggling to keep going.
If you, or anyone you know is in need of help, please contact us. If you are provided with food you would then be able to spend your money on paying bills. Just come. You don’t need a referral or a voucher.
We are open every Wednesday at the Baptist church hall, Cinque Ports Street from 1pm until 3pm. All are welcome.
You can email ryefoodbank@gmail.com. Phone us on 07526 349847.
Monetary donations can be sent to Rye Foodbank at Barclays Bank, sort code 20-54-25, account number 83501116, through the Jempson Foundation or cheques to Rye Foodbank, c/o 24 North Salts, Rye. If you donate via the Jempson Foundation and are a taxpayer, gift aid can be applied, thereby increasing the value of the donation by 25% at no cost to the donor. If you make a bank transfer, please do send us a message (via ryefoodbank@gmail.com) so we know who it is from and can send a receipt, if required.
Image Credits: Kt bruce .
I wouldn’t have believed we’d need a foodbank in 2022 living in Britain, one of the richest countries in the world. We’ve suffered years of austerity under this government and no wonder Maggs and her team at the foodbank are busier than ever.
Well done volunteers in providing such a needed service and Jempsons for their support
Thank you Steve your very kind – I’m a member of the volunteer team, all of us are volunteers but the ones who carry the responsibility and majority of the work are the managers Bob Harper and Penny Downes. Both absolute stars fulfilling difficult roles.
I have lived away from Rye for all of my adult life and feel so sad that there up is still a need for a Food Bank. HOWEVER, make no mistake, there was always considerable poverty in the town and surrounding villages and it’s so encouraging that the community does now come together to offer some support.
I have found it easy to make a regular modest donation to RFB for some years. Many of us more affluent (but not rich) readers who were born and educated in the town will have received or will shortly receive a lump sum of up to £500 from the DWP. This is an enhanced winter fuel payment, although we can afford (just) to meet exorbitant fuel bills. Many will use some or all of this ‘windfall’ for charitable donations. I hope this ex-Rye cohort will remember their childhood spent in the town and give a little bit back to help those of the the current population who are having a grim time. It’s an easy thing to do.