Twenty-two charities and community groups providing crisis support to people facing food poverty have received funding from Swansea Council.
The demand for foodbanks and other support has increased in recent months and so an additional £42,000 was made available to the council from the Welsh Government.
Among the organisations to successfully apply for funding were Birchgrove Foodbank, Congolese Development Project, Matthew’s House, Pontarddulais Partnership, SAM Recovery, St Thomas’ Church, The Centre for African Entrepreneurship and The Wallich.
All money allocated was for items to help tackle food poverty and included the purchase of food, storage, packaging, transport costs and FareShare Cymru membership.
Swansea Council’s Cabinet Member for Supporting Communities, Alyson Pugh, said: “Throughout the pandemic the council has supported the network of food banks and other crisis support to maintain and increase the services they provide.
“This additional money is on top of almost £200,000 provided by Swansea Council’s Food Poverty Fund and it is much needed as families and individuals struggle with the rapid rise in living costs.
“I’d like to thank the Welsh Government for their continued support and I’m extremely grateful to those who work so hard in Swansea to make sure our most vulnerable residents do not go hungry.
“We are very lucky in Swansea to have a network of foodbanks, charities and organisations providing crisis support and Swansea Council will continue to do all it can to assist them.”
A spokesperson for The Pontarddulais Partnership, which runs the Pontarddulais Area Food Bank, said: “During the pandemic our food bank usage has increased massively.
“Without the support of the Household Support Fund, and other funds that have been provided by Swansea Council, we could not have continued to support so many vulnerable families in our area.
“Providing a food parcel to those most vulnerable in our community makes a huge difference to the wellbeing of both adults and children and allows them to feed their family using food with good nutritional values.”
