Cost of living crisis: A day in the life of Renfrewshire Foodbank

It was opened almost 10 years ago by then shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander and continues to serve the area, with three separate distribution centres in Paisley, Renfrew and Johnstone.

While the charity is independently run, it is seeded by The Trussell Trust. It is essentially a franchise and uses much of the trust’s material.

It’s a dreich Monday morning at the foodbank’s warehouse in Westway Park, Renfrew. The building was constructed and donated by Doosan Babcock, which has a manufacturing facility on the same site. It is packed with crates full of tins, jars and other foodstuffs.

Soon after, a flurry of volunteer delivery drivers drop off items. Mondays are always busy because many churches hold collections at their Sunday services.

But one volunteer noted that there had been a change recently: “The church collections have gone down. Everyone is feeling it with the cost of fuel and energy bills rising.”

This is only one of the foodbank’s sources of donations. Many local supermarkets and schools host collections, while individual members of the public often drop off items at the warehouse.

Weight is currency here, so every donation is weighed on its way in and every parcel is weighed on its way out.

Everyone gets stuck in, sorting the items by category and sell-by date. The volunteers are all in good form, chatting and joking with each other as they work away. Renfrewshire Foodbank currently has more than 100 volunteers on its books, some of whom have been there since it opened.

Helping hands

CAROL Carruth, from Paisley, first started volunteering with the charity eight years ago. She said: “I had just retired and I was looking for something to do. And someone came to the door with a leaflet at the beginning when they were starting. I thought I can do that.”

Another volunteer, Roslin Barbour, a retired nurse from Paisley, first got involved five years ago after donating to the foodbank through her church. She volunteered during the Covid lockdowns. She said: “We were getting big donations from shops which were closed. We were running out of space to store it.

“Once things opened up again, there were so many people using the foodbank.”

In the next room, another volunteer shows how the parcels, of which more than 100 are given out per week, are made up. They come in four different sizes – single people, couples, small families and large families – and are put together with guidance from professional nutritionists at The Trussell Trust.

Parcels include cereal, various tins of soup, vegetables and meat, pasta or rice, and UHT milk. The volunteer making up the parcels tries to include items which would go well together for meals.

Senior manager Crystal Clayton plans to live off one of the parcels for three days because “I want to be able to tell clients recipes they can use”.

Ms Clayton is currently the only member of staff at the foodbank, although she hopes to have a warehouse manager and assistant manager on the books soon.

She said that the number of times someone uses the foodbank tends to vary. “We say that we’re here to support people in the short term,” Ms Clayton explained. “We don’t want to be here. Foodbanks shouldn’t be a thing, we don’t want to have to exist, but we’re fortunate enough that we can support people at the moment.”

After a few hours of sorting items, its onto the foodbank’s Paisley distribution centre, at the Central Baptist Church. Six tables are set out with crates full of food on them. Three are set out for single people, who make up the largest group of users. There’s one for couples and one each for small and large families.

The volunteers said that single people make up the biggest number of users. But Rena Ioannu, who volunteers at the Paisley distribution centre three times a week, said: “We are seeing many more families coming now. Some of the mums are working, but it’s not enough with gas and electric prices and the food prices [going up].”

Schools’ class act

ALONGSIDE the parcels, the foodbank also provides toiletries, fresh bread, eggs, fruit and vegetables. Some of this is donated by local schools, who grow produce at allotments on their grounds.

As opening time approaches, a queue starts to form outside. The team of five volunteers waits inside the hall, ready to provide support. Once the doors open, the service users stream in. They all have to be referred to the foodbank by other services and provide a reference number as they come in.

Here, Ms Clayton speaks to them about other ways in which the foodbank can help them. “We do a lot more [than just give out food],” said Ms Clayton. “We signpost to various organisations, we can help people get their messages home with bus tickets. We’ve got a short supply of energy vouchers that we can give out to those that really need it.”

The foodbank’s users came from a wide demographic. Some look like they had barely left school, while others are retirement age. Some social workers also came to pick up parcels for their clients.

One user is a well-dressed gentleman who appears to be in his 50s. He is smartly dressed. One of the volunteers said that he serves as a stark reminder that “anyone can find themselves in a situation where they need to use a foodbank”.

The volunteer said: “You could have a well-paid job and a lifestyle to match it, but if you get made redundant you won’t be able to pay the mortgage.”

For the first 40 minutes it is hectic, with person after person coming in to pick up a parcel. The volunteers help pack bags, source toiletries, and have a chat with the service users.

Appreciation

ONE man, who is collecting a parcel for a small family, has been waiting for three operations on his back due to a slipped disc. He is limping, so he is helped to the car with his parcels. On leaving, he said: “Thank you for everything that you all do here.”

Another man, who had broken his wrist, let me lend him a hand as he packed his items into a suitcase. On the way out, he said: “I only started using the foodbank because my brother died and I had to go to London for the funeral a few weeks ago. By the time I came back the electricity was off and I’ve been paying it back since.”

For the second hour, the foodbank was quieter, with users still coming by every so often.

This is fairly typical for a Monday but Ms Clayton said: “We have seen an increase in foodbank usage, simply because of what’s going on. The cost-of-living crisis is apparent and everyone’s feeling it.”

Even though the foodbank is short on some items this particular Monday, like UHT milk, diluting juice, and shampoo, and with demand increasing, Ms Clayton is confident that the charity will not run out of food.

“That’s not going to happen,” she said. “We’re in a good position to help the people of Renfrewshire. Because people have been so kind [with donations], we have got stuff there. We’re going to be here until people don’t need us anymore.”

Renfrewshire Foodbank is reliant on the goodwill of individuals – a host of volunteers and donors – who provide support to those who are struggling.

It is clear that the resilience of the staff, volunteers, donors and users is set to be tested even further in the challenging months ahead.