Food banks notice inflation: there are fewer donations

Fear of a new crisis due to inflation and rising food prices created the perfect storm for there are more and more people looking for food in food banks, but fewer donors. This is explained by sources of the Spanish Federation of Food Banks, who underline that inflation affects all of Spain, but for vulnerable people and at risk of poverty it is even more tangible.

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As early as December 2021, the Madrid Food Bank provided a daily meal to 180,236 people, including 7,440 infants, as stated in its latest annual memory. In previous years, the increase was most notable in 2020 due to the pandemic, when the number of requests for help grew by 40% compared to the previous year.

The perfect storm: fear of the crisis and more calls for help

Conchi Rey, president of the Rías Altas Food Bank in Galicia, explains to Newtral.es that “the crises are piling up” but “donations have been increasing for ten years”. “Now, in recent months, people are more reluctant to donate because they don’t know if they will have it for themselves, there is a lot of fear of inflation, of rising prices,” he says.

Nationally, from the Spanish Federation of Food Banks explain that the number of applicants depends more on the area of ​​Spain and not so much on the economic situation of recent months. But they noticed it in the donations. “People who can collaborate with food banks no longer do so and it is perceived that this is due to inflation. The same thing happens with companies, “they say.

Also, while people donate less food to banks, requests for help increase in some areas due to inflation, such as A Coruña. “We have noticed that there is a growing call for help,” says Rey. The President of the Food Bank Rías Altas makes it clear that her entity does not distribute directly to people, but to collaborating entities. “We are like a department store,” she explains. But even so, she reminds that people who want to ask for help must do so through social services, ask for a report on their situation and turn to entities such as Cáritas or Renacer.

“The problem is that the social report can last from 15 days to four months. But of course we will not leave a family or a person without eating in order not to be in a relationship. That’s what the emergency kits are for, they contain the basics. We can also supply personal care products, such as toothbrushes and toothpaste, shampoo, gel or for washing clothes, ”explains Rey.

Food bank data before inflation hit double digits

From the Spanish Federation of Food Banks they share with Newtral.es their latest data on beneficiaries, kilos distributed or volunteers from 2019 to 2021. That is, the data of food banks before inflation, but which includes the effect of the pandemic. Although they point out that the point where inflation is most evident in 2022 is in corporate donations, as well as individuals.

Due to the pandemic, and as explained by the agency, there has been an increase in the number of applicants for help. Something that banks from Foods they are beginning to perceive from the inflation.

In Madrid in 2021, 16% of the food donated to Madrid came from the Grande Collezione, a campaign in which educational centers, companies and individuals can participate. 11% were with Kilo Operations, in which volunteers ask people to collaborate with the bank, according to the annual memory Food Bank of Madrid.

But private donations aren’t the only sources of food. Companies can also do it or through the European Fund for Aid to the Most Disadvantaged People (FAED). In total, over 27 million kilos of food were donated in 2021.

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