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Food banks providing support to some of Jersey's most vulnerable people say that they are coming under more pressure than ever before this Christmas, with "unprecedented" demand for their services due to the cost of living crisis - and, in some cases, a drop in donations.
The Salvation Army, St Vincent de Paul and The Grace Trust all run food banks for those who are unable to obtain or afford food in Jersey.
At a time when inflation is hitting 30-year highs and shows no sign of stopping, each of the services helping to support the islanders most affected have seen a dramatic uptick in the number of islanders seeking help.
Dominic Egré, the Food bank and Special Project Supervisor for St Vincent De Paul, said he has been shocked by the increase.
“We are insanely busy at the moment. We thought that after covid things would quieten down quite a lot, but that just hasn’t happened. We have effectively doubled the number of people we are seeing," he said.
Pictured: Food bank use is going up "exponentially" according to Caritas CEO Patrick Lynch.
Patrick Lynch, CEO of Caritas Jersey, the sister charity of St Vincent De Paul, spoke in far starker terms.
He said: “Food bank use is going up exponentially. The use of the St Vincent de Paul food bank has gone up beyond all recognition. It's the highest number they’ve ever had.
"We are seeing just unprecedented challenges around the cost of living… We have started to use the phrase 'cost of living emergency' as its more accurate than 'crisis' now.”
Similar challenges have been faced by the Salvation Army, which provides free hot meals from its café in Minden Street.
Alice Nunn, a Captain in the Salvation Army with more than 10 years' service, who runs the local branch, said: “In the whole of last year, people used our services 1,040 times. This year, we’ve helped people around 1,700 times and it's not even the end of the year yet.
"...You just have to go food shopping to see how much harder things are getting for people.”
Something each of the food bank providers said was particularly striking has been the kinds of people who have started coming through their doors this year.
Mr Egré said: “I’d say about 50% of the people who come in are the regulars, people who are out of work or have severe learning difficulties, but at the moment we’re seeing an awful lot of first-time customers. About a quarter of the people who we are seeing are currently employed and have never needed to use anything like this before… We are seeing a lot of employed carers coming in, particularly. We are providing the service for people who provide the service, it’s just insanity.”
He continued: “This is something that’s completely new for Jersey, I’ve never seen it like this before over here… It’s a challenge to get my head around the difference between the richest and the poorest over here.”
"People are being put in the position of whether to pay rent or put food on the table"
Mr Lynch said he had noticed the same phenomenon.
“At the moment, people on Income Support are often in a better position than those in low wage jobs… Costs are really starting to get beyond a lot of people. People are being put in the position of whether to pay rent or put food on the table.”
Pictured: Dominic Egré, the Food bank and Special Project supervisor for St Vincent de Paul said: "it’s a challenge to get my head around the difference between the richest and the poorest over here.”
Of course, it's not just the cost of food going up.
Mr Lynch said: “In a sense, 'food bank' is the wrong word as… it's not just food that’s being provided but also personal hygiene and household cleaning items, which are increasingly in demand, and help with utilities, so electricity vouchers, and increasingly things like baby formula and other child care essentials.”
Both St Vincent de Paul and the Salvation Army have been working with Jersey Electricity to provide £20 top-up vouchers for those with pay-as-you-go meters.
In exchange, these charities encourage people to switch to pay-as-you-go contracts so they will not rack up insurmountable debts.
Mr Egré said: “We’re there to assist people who get into trouble with their bills… We don’t want people turning to alternative methods of heating their homes, like garden-gas heaters."
"We also have an appeal out for baby formula as it’s gotten so expensive," he added. "It can be £17 to £20 for a tub of baby formula, which is really scary for a family on a budget, and parents will always put the child first.”
Pictured: Providing the essentials for child care is one of the services of foodbanks in Jersey.
As the demand for these services continues to grow, each of these charities requires more and more support.
For the Salvation Army, this support has never wavered.
Mrs Nunn said: “People are really generous and really supportive, the way the community has taken us in is amazing… We’ve never had a problem with donations. Whether it’s something small or big, we are incredibly thankful. It’s often the little things that keep you going. Whenever we find ourselves short of something in the shop, someone will always be there just when we need it. It's incredible."
For St Vincent de Paul and Caritas, however, getting enough donations has been a challenge.
Mr Lynch said: “General donations have dried up hugely as people just have less to go round… At the food banks, it used to be the case that one bag of food in 10 was provided for by public donations, with the rest coming from reserves.
"Now that number is 1 in 52. While the person on the street can’t give as much, philanthropists and philanthropic organisations are meeting the need.”
Pictured: "It used to be the case that one bag of food in 10 was provided for by public donations, with the rest coming from reserves. Now that number is one in 52."
While Mr Lynch said they grateful for those who had stepped up, he was clear that the Government needs to do more to support the most vulnerable members of the community.
“While we are very thankful to those organisations, it doesn’t absolve the government. They still have a moral obligation to help and not just rely on the charity sector."
To counter the effects of the cost of living emergency, Caritas has been encouraging the Government to adopt the Living Wage, a figure taking into account the cost of living, taxes, and the value of benefits available to working people on low incomes.
In 2023, it will be set at £12.19 per hour, whereas the minimum wage is £10.50.
He said: "We want to see a gradual move from the minimum wage to the Living Wage over the lifetime of this [States] Assembly. We knew from the outset that it can’t be done all at once, but we want to see this government make a firm commitment to move towards the Living Wage rather than just kicking the can down the road."
Pictured: The Government "still have a moral obligation to help and not just rely on the charity sector.”
The new year is likely to offer fresh challenges as people often struggle the most in the first quarter of the year.
Mr Egré said that St Vincent de Paul is trying as best as it can to “keep our powder dry for January", adding: "We don’t want to blow all or supplies now and then be of no use when everyone is skint in January."
In the new year, the team will be opening up a mobile food bank to provide for those who struggle to make the journey into town.
They will also be launching their own informative TV channel online to educate people on poverty and managing their budgets. They're also looking to run a Ready Steady Cook-style cooking competition where competitors will compete to cook the tastiest meal from a bag of donated food.
Pictured: Patrick Lynch (left) presenting MB Firestop, a local fire prevention company, with their Living Wage certificate.
Caritas' goal is to expand the number of businesses agreeing to pay their employees a Living Wage.
"From the data we're seeing, it's soon going to be a question of whether businesses can afford not to go on the living wage."
So far, around 40 businesses have been verified as Living Wage employers by Caritas, with this number already expected to grow early next year.
The Salvation Army has no plans to slow its efforts to support islanders either.
As Alice Nunn explained, helping people is about so much more than simply meeting their physical needs.
“We believe we are all stronger together and we believe that rich or poor, everyone is worthy of dignity and respect. Often, we help people who are in a crisis, who are surviving but its all gotten too much… We want to look at the whole person and not just their financial situation… Life is more complicated than whether you have food or not.
"When someone is listened to, they stand up taller.”
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