MADEIRA FOOD BANK CONCERNED ABOUT 50% REDUCTION IN COLLECTIONS AND INCREASED DEMAND

The Food Bank of Madeira is concerned about the reduction of around 50% in the products collected, noting that forecasts point to an increase in requests for help.

Speaking to the Lusa agency, the president of the Food Bank in the region, Fátima Aveiro, said that the demand for support has increased since January, although it is still not as significant as expected.

“We know it is a matter of time and, if this scenario continues, the increase in requests is predictable”, she noted, indicating that since the beginning of the year the institution has received 25 new requests for help.

Fátima Aveiro stressed that this increase has the particularity of referring to “families who had never asked, but who, due to the current circumstances, are unable to bear the burdens they have”.

“They have a lot of difficulty paying their debts, keeping their expenses liquid. There are people who had their lives organized, their bank charges, with the house payments, but, due to this inflation, people are having a lot of difficulty and, unfortunately, where there is a shortage is food and they cut food” .

Even so, Banco Alimentar is currently supporting fewer people (7,500) compared to those it supported about a year ago (8,500), a situation that is justified, according to Fátima Aveiro, with the economic recovery after the covid-19 pandemic and the review of family processes by institutions.

However, with the increase in inflation, “there are those who keep their jobs, but their disposable income is not enough to assume the burden”, he reinforced.

In contrast to demand, the donation of products to the Food Bank dropped significantly, a situation that worries the institution.

According to the person in charge, the Food Bank collected 114 tons between January and April, and in the same period last year it had collected about twice as much.

“We have food in ‘stock’, we will still receive from campaigns that we carried out and that come through maritime transport, plus those that we will collect, but it is little compared to what we are supporting now and in view of the forecasts of a worse scenario”, said Fátima Aveiro.

The president of the Food Bank expressed, however, hope in the campaigns that will take place between May 4th and 14th, so that it will be possible to “caution this predictable increase that will happen”.

“And, on the other hand, we are going to try to get people to mobilize for donations because we know that not all people donate”, she added.

From Jornal Madeira