Glasgow food bank helping double the amount of people

Tolani Adegoroye, chairperson of The Everlasting Foodbank in Dennistoun, says the rise comes despite a reduction in funding.

She said: "It has been quite challenging for us because we’ve had some really reduced funding.

"We had funding from the council to manage the Children’s Holiday Hunger café but in terms of funding we were able to access in the past, we’ve not been able to access much which means we’ve had reduced income to run so we’ve had to rely on the church and people who want to donate to continue to run it.

"We’ve also had increased service user intake, so in the past in a week we would see 40 to 50 service users but in the last 12 months we’ve seen it rising to around 80 to 100 every week.

"So it’s been really challenging, we require more resources to be able to continue to run every weekend."

The food bank opens at 1pm on Saturdays, and while people previously used to queue from around 12pm, they are now queuing from as early as 9.30am because they are so anxious they might not get served if they arrive any later due to the increase in the number of people attending.

Tolani said: "It’s really saddening it’s come to this.

"When we started, we thought this was going to be short-term emergency food provision to support people until they get back on their feet but it's turned out people are needing continuous support.

"Now even people who are working are dependent on the food bank if they are low income."

READ NEXT: The Glasgow Times Toy Appeal 2023 needs your support

Like many food banks we have spoken to across the city, Tolani says The Everlasting Foodbank has experienced a drop in donations, though support from some businesses has helped them continue to operate.

She explained: "There has been a drop in donations but the good thing is because we’re partnered now with other organisations like Marks & Spencer, Pret A Manger, and Nando's we tend to get food from these organisations so that has been a huge support.

"However, we still have items we need to buy ourselves, there has been a huge drop."

For anyone who can donate and would like to, Tolani says they need more non-perishable foods such as pasta, cereal, long-life milk, tinned meat and fish, rice, curry sauce, and tinned fruit and vegetables.

We previously reported the Glasgow Times will be running the Bank on Us campaign for the fifth consecutive year, and we are encouraging our readers to get involved in a food drive.   

As part of the festive campaign, readers who can donate are being asked to fill the bags we supplied in our edition on Wednesday, November 15 with food items and hand them into one of our partner food banks, such as The Everlasting Foodbank. 

This year, our Christmas campaign is more important than ever due to the cost-of-living crisis with thousands of families struggling to heat their homes and put food on the table.   

As well as the food drive, the Glasgow Times will be raising money for our Bank on Us toy drive via GoFundMe HERE.  

All proceeds will be used to purchase toys which will be distributed to charities across the city to be handed out to parents and put under the tree as we aim for every child in Glasgow to open a present on December 25. 

The Bank on Us 2023 campaign is proudly sponsored by Arnold Clark, Stagecoach, Allied Vehicles, Spar Scotland, Storage Vault and StepChange.   

The Everlasting Foodbank*

• 12 Whitehill Street, Dennistoun, G31 2LJ – opening hours: Saturday, 1-2pm

*opening times are correct at the time of writing but may be subject to change 

You can view the full list of partner food banks HERE.