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The Trussell Trust is delighted to announce that it has taken the Overall Award at this year’s Charity Awards, the longest-running and most prestigious awards scheme in the charity sector.

As well as winning the top prize in the Social Care and Welfare category, The Trussell Trust was chosen as the Overall Winner at this year’s ceremony for its nationwide network of more than 400 foodbanks, which provided over 1.1 million three-day emergency food supplies to people in crisis last year.

Over 40,000 people volunteered with Trussell Trust projects last year and this week is all about thanking them. We could not operate without generous people giving up their time; let us introduce you to a few of them and find out why they enjoy volunteering with us…

Every last Friday of the next seven months will see Trussell Trust foodbank volunteers based at selected Network Rail managed stations from 7am – 7pm to raise awareness of, and funds for, vital work tackling hunger.

Being part of The Trussell Trust Foodbank Network means the chance to attend our foodbank conference every year. It’s always a great day as foodbanks come together to be inspired, learn from and encourage one another, with this year’s conference including a keynote speech from Martin Lewis. Here’s what happened…

Imagine you’re a mum living in the capital, juggling a new job with two young children.  For the last few weeks your husband hasn’t been given many hours by the company he works for, and it’s going to be a couple of weeks until you’re paid. While you’re waiting for that first pay packet, your husband’s limited hours alone just won’t cover the cost of bringing up a young family.

Something’s got to give.

“I can’t remember the last time we had a square meal as a family. I’ll make something for the kids and pretend I’m eating later, because I don’t want them to know I go without so they don’t have to. It’s hard to get even basic food. It’s making a decision between that and something else – do you put that £5 in the electric or gas because it’ll be freezing otherwise, or put it into food so the kids can eat?”

For Anna, juggling the care of her severely autistic son and dealing with depression after escaping an abusive relationship is a daily struggle. And it’s made so much worse because she has little to live on. She is just one of thousands of people who have been referred to a foodbank in the last year, and when she arrived and sat down with a cup of tea to talk to the volunteers, it became clear food wasn’t the only thing she was struggling to afford. 

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1,109,309.

That’s the amount of three-day emergency food supplies our network of 424 foodbanks gave out to people in crisis during 2015/16, with 415,866 of those having gone to children.

“One million three-day food supplies given out by our foodbanks every year is one million too many. This must not become the new normal. We need to listen to the experiences of people facing hunger and poverty, and work to find solutions to this problem together.” – CEO, David McAuley

It’s a 2% increase on our foodbank figures released this time last year, when we first crossed the one million mark. And it’s happened again.

“I never thought this would happen to us – we were both working, we’ve paid our taxes… If it wasn’t for the foodbank I don’t know what we would’ve done. I want to work again, that would sort everything out. Then we could prepare for the babies, get our house back. I don’t even have a hospital bag ready at the moment”

Last week, our foodbank was visited by Anna*, just six weeks before her twins were due. They will be her first children, and she and her partner currently have no home to call their own. They have been sofa surfing for the last few weeks because they hit financial difficulty when her antiques business collapsed and they were evicted from their home. Anna’s partner hasn’t been able to get enough contract work to support them.

It will soon be Mother’s Day, a day when families come together to celebrate the wonderful sacrifices that Mothers make for their children and loved ones.  Gifts are often given, and perhaps a celebratory breakfast or lunch has been arranged.  For many mothers though, it will again be a day when the stark reality of parenting in poverty is deeply felt.

‘It’s a suitably chilly morning to usher in Fuel Poverty Awareness Day 2016; a day primarily designed for those of us (like me) whose central heating clicked on unthinkingly at 6am to ensure the rush to work and school took place in glowing warmth, with plentiful hot water for showers and enough gas and electricity to cook scrambled eggs on toast for five. How lovely.

“My family don’t have the heating on very often, we just sit under duvets trying to keep warm.” #fuelpovertyawarenessday

— The Trussell Trust (@TrussellTrust) February 26, 2016

Others, of course, don’t need their awareness raised at all. They are among the 4.5million people in the UK who the government says are ‘fuel poor’, who most likely woke up in the cold, got dressed in the cold, and will later go to bed in the cold.’

“I had never been to a foodbank before and wasn’t sure what to expect… I just wanted to thank you all so much.I felt rather overwhelmed but only because of the genuine kindness and generosity of everyone there… I can’t tell you how relieved I am to know that my children are going to be able to eat okay.”

Natalie left this note for the volunteers at the foodbank after she visited with her little boy.

Like many others who struggle in silence, she had hit a crisis point where she couldn’t afford enough food. It’s distressing and depressing to face hunger, especially when you have children, but thanks to small acts of kindness from so many different people, the foodbank was able to be there for this mum.