Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Foodbank warns of surge in demand

Food bank donations.
Food bank donations.

Angus Foodbank has warned it expects a “substantial increase” in demand in the coming months.

The charity’s annual report revealed it fed 3,028 – including 768 children – in the 12 months to the end of July.

But chairman Derek Marshall is expecting a surge this year due to recently introduced benefit changes.

He said: “As soon as the universal tax is introduced in any area, foodbank use escalates.

“The reason for that is that it’s taking some people up to seven weeks to get their tax credits sorted out, so occasionally we have to step in and help somebody for a longer period of time.

“We are expecting quite a substantial increase in uptake in Angus, which is already a very busy depot.”

Angus Foodbank now has centres in Forfar, Montrose and Arbroath. It also operates a delivery service to assist people in Kirriemuir, Carnoustie, Monifieth, Brechin and Edzell areas.

The group distributes between 2,500 and 3,000 tonnes of food a month.

“We work on a referral basis,” Mr Marshall added. “We don’t make any judgement calls when people come. If they come with a red slip then they’ll get food, no questions asked.

“We are now working with 130 agencies – almost every third sector or public organisation you can think of will be a partner with us.

“We have around 90 volunteers working between the different distribution centres.

“But we are needing more volunteers, we are needing more food and we need more finance as the task at hand continues to escalate.

“We are trying to keep a step or two ahead of it all. Demand is increasing all the time.”

In the past year, the Forfar area saw the largest amount of people being fed by the foodbank (1069), followed by Montrose (486) and Arbroath East and Lunan (392).

Benefit delays, benefit changes and low income are the main reasons that people are referred.

Mr Marshall said the main source of donations is through collections at supermarkets. He highlighted the support from Tesco, which gives the money back on the profit it makes on items for the foodbank as well as making its own food donations.

“We’ve got a lot of support coming in from schools, rotaries, churches, round tables and individuals handing in supplies but there’s always a need,” he added.

“It’s not a good indictment as a culture or a Government that so many thousands of people are relying on foodbanks for the bare necessities.”