Food hub sees rise in working families needing help

The founder of a food hub in Leicester has said it is increasingly supporting working families on low incomes who are struggling with the cost of living.

Katie Wray, who runs Christ the King Food Hub in Beaumont Leys, said rising costs meant the organisation was increasingly helping people with debt, energy bills and other financial difficulties alongside food support.

She said the impact on families was "phenomenal" and that it was supporting people with a range of financial difficulties, including transport costs and getting children to school.

Wray, who started the food hub 15 years ago with her husband Jasper, said it was "a much broader picture now than what it ever has been".

She said many people still wrongly associated food banks with unemployment, adding that a growing number of those seeking help were working families on low incomes who struggled to cover essential household costs.

Wray added: "When people come to us, obviously they're coming for food, that's one area, but we have to now look at the whole holistic element of what's going on for them.

"If they have to use transport, get the children to school, that's all added costs that they have to consider."

The food hub also supports people in professional jobs, including single-parent nurses who were struggling to make ends meet.

Wray said she feared many families would continue to struggle through the winter.

"People are struggling now," she said.

"I'm not saying they're not going to be struggling next year, but what about now?

"What's going to happen to these people between now and next year?"

The charity said it had also seen a fall in donations as households face financial pressures of their own.

Wray said donations had fallen sharply because many people who previously "used to pop in with a bag of shopping" were now needing that for themselves.

With Christmas approaching, she said demand for support was expected to rise further.

She said: "We are supported by big food industries, big supermarkets, but they're struggling as well and we've been hit by a hot summer, so our vegetable range has reduced."

The food hub provides a Christmas food bank for about 350 referred families and also offers gifts for children.

"We have a lot going on that needs a lot of support," she said.

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