Waterbeach Distribution Centre, as part of Ely Foodbank, joined more than 100 food banks across the UK taking action to show support for an ‘Essentials Guarantee’ and calling for the basic rate of Universal Credit to cover the cost of essentials that people need such as food, household bills, and travel costs.
On Friday 8 September, the team from Waterbeach, which includes volunteers from St John's Church, Waterbeach Baptist Church, the Salvation Army Church and others, set up a stall on the village green and spoke to almost 100 local people about the Trussell Trust / Joseph Rowntree Foundation ‘Guarantee our Essentials’ campaign. In the last 12 months this centre has provided 198 emergency food parcels to local people who couldn’t afford the essentials, 105 of these to families with children. These statistics are reflective of the picture across the UK as the Trussell Trust recently announced that their network distributed almost three million emergency food parcels between April 2022 – March 2023, the highest number on record.
If you would like to find out more or add your voice, please visit trusselltrust.org/petition where you can support the campaign by signing the petition.
