North Guilford Foodbank set to see busiest April ever
The charity have compared the Easter Holidays to demand they see at Christmas time.
A charity supporting people in Surrey who can't afford basic essentials like food are urging anyone who needs it to reach out for help.
North Guilford Foodbank tell us with children being off over the Easter Holidays, families aren't able to rely on free school meals and breakfast clubs.
Jessica, manager at the Foodbank said: " I did meet a lady a couple of weeks ago, who just said 'well a cup of tea is probably enough.' I know from looking at our clients that some of them are skipping meals."
"I've described this week as being a bit like December, we've gone incredibly busy and are definitely up against it. "
Figures from the Trussell Trust show between April 2023, and March last year - the number of people across the country that used a food bank for the first time was 655,000.
UK-wide, the charity distributed more than 3.1 million emergency food parcels to people facing hardship - which is an increase of 94% over the past five years.
More than 1.1 million of those parcels were given out to children.
Across the South East of England, the number of parcels given out by the Trussell Trust increased by 123%.
Jessica added: "It's probably going to be our busiest April ever, we're tracking a little ahead of last April which was also busy. Previously, we haven't been as busy during the school holidays as quite a lot of referrers are on holiday - so people can't necessarily get the support they need."
"We find at the foodbank that it can only be a little thing, if someone is managing a really tight budget and they're being very careful - it only takes a tiny glitch of something going slightly wrong for them to hit a situation where they can't afford food. So it could just be that their washing machine breaks down."
"We had some grandparents recently, who had to look after their grandchildren and they didn't have the resources to do that. So there's a whole range of things that impact people - but anything that takes them out of their 'norm' in managing their finances, that's when we tend to be needed."
If you, or someone you know needs access to support you can find out more about North Guilford Foodbank here.