“I WOULDN’T say we’re really hard up but it makes a big difference to us getting a bag of food for the whole week.”

The community food store is an “essential” lifeline for Phil Behling and his wife Avril who, like many others, visit weekly to feed their family.

Shoppers can visit the community store in St Gabriel’s, Turlin Moor, and fill a bag of food with a variety of essential and luxury items for a donation of £2.50.

With the cost of bills increasing the pop-up shop has become a crucial part of the community, helping keep people from going hungry

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Paul Wellman, 58, who has his daughter and grandchildren living with him, said: “The energy prices have definitely hit me. Our bills were £45 a month and they’ve jumped to well over £100 a month now.

 

“It means there’s less money that you’ve got to spend and the water went up too and that’s another £100-odd a month, it’s just crazy.

“It gets me out and I like meeting everybody here. I tend to get little goodies for my girls and they always come to check what I’ve got at the end of the day so mainly I come for them really.”

Another client, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: “It’s not just for people who are on benefits and I think there’s a stigma attached to that sometimes.

“And it really helps – when we were in lockdown and couldn’t get out they did deliveries.

“With the tins and things it helps tide you over and stretch your budget basically.”

As the cost of living increases and the wages continue to stagnate, many working households have had to turn to food projects to help their families.

Vicky Neale, 39, from Turlin Moor, said: “There’s six of us in my house, my partner works full-time and I work part-time and it’s a bit of a struggle.

“It’s quite tight with money so this helps loads.

“I am dreading the price hike because it’s expensive as it is now.

“I come every week because it’s my day off and obviously we don’t have any extra help from the government – to buy the bread and milk in Tesco it would cost me more than the £2.50 I pay here plus the bits extra I can put in my bag.”

A large portion of clients visiting the community store were of retirement age who were struggling to stretch their pension any further.

An elderly shopper, who wanted to keep her name private, said: “This helps my pension an awful lot.

“Everyone’s got gas, electric, rent, council tax and all the rest of it and if you want any luxuries yourself I find it hard.

“So this is wonderful and the way they all work together and arrange it all, they work hard and it’s really great.”