As of December 25, 2021 10:57 a.m.
The boards are already reporting more customers in some places. For the coming months, the helpers expect that the demand will continue to rise. What are the reasons?
In view of rising food and energy costs, the food banks in Germany expect increased demand in the coming months. “Today more people are already coming to some of the food banks,” said the chairman of the German food bank, Jochen Brühl, of the dpa news agency. Fresh foods such as fruit and vegetables are particularly popular at the moment, as many people “simply cannot afford a balanced diet”. “Rising food prices are exacerbating this problem.”
Brühl called on the new federal government to help people affected by poverty in the short term with special payments. In the longer term, too, he expressed specific expectations of the traffic light alliance: “Regardless of whether we call it Bürgergeld or Hartz IV in the future – it is clear that the standard rates must rise significantly, as well as the minimum wage.” Society cannot afford that millions of people do not participate in it and that children have little chance of escaping a life of poverty. “The food banks shouldn’t be used as a means of subsistence, but rather as a means of giving poor people financial leeway,” he said.
Many children and young people too
According to the latest figures from May 2021, almost 40 percent of the food banks reported more people at the issuing offices. Above all, the proportion of people on short-time work, recipients of unemployment benefit II and the self-employed has increased. Many older people, on the other hand, are currently staying at home again. According to the information, many families continue to come to the food banks – the proportion of children and young people is very high.
However, around every fifth table has fewer customers. “Some customers have not come back since the beginning of the pandemic,” said Brühl. “That worries us because we know they need the support.”
New concepts because of Corona
There have also been changes among the helpers as a result of the pandemic. Some who paused their commitment at the beginning of the year for fear of a corona infection have come back, said Brühl. Others, on the other hand, are still unsettled and have not yet returned.
The new output models with a distance and little contact have meanwhile been tried and tested. However, the new concepts also meant more work and additional costs that had to be met. The winter and the current pandemic situation with the spread of the Omikron variant would again present the helpers with new challenges.