A Sheffield food bank has launched a new campaign to raise awareness on the cost of living crisis.

The campaign, Cost of Surviving, is aimed at providing urgent food and support to vulnerable individuals and families across the city.

Credit: S6 Foodbank

Sheffield S6 Foodbank manager, Chris Hardy, said “Our new campaign, ‘Cost of Surviving’ aims to highlight the struggles that people face across Sheffield just to survive.”

With the cost of living steadily increasing, Sheffield S6 foodbank supports more than 1,500 people across the city by supplying food packages, advice and mental health support for the most vulnerable.

In a recent report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on UK poverty, statistics found, one in four people live in poverty in Sheffield, including a third of Sheffield children, making the city the fourth highest poverty rate in Yorkshire and the Humber. 

Mr Hardy, said: “The support we see across the community for people on the lowest incomes is incredible. But in 2024 it simply shouldn’t be needed. We should all be free from hunger. No one should be pushed deeper into poverty without enough money for the things we all need. It’s not right that anyone in Sheffield needs our food bank in the first place – everyone should be able to afford the essentials.”

The charity has seen an increase in those who are accessing the ten food bank sites they have across the city.  Daily they hear from people who have to choose between paying their energy bills, buying new shoes for their children, or putting food on the table.  

The campaign, along with providing emergency food, aims to provide those most affected with debt support, housing, benefit claims, budgeting, employment and advice for mental health and wellbeing. 

A spokesperson for the charity said: “The problem is only getting bigger, because hunger and foodbank use is rarely just about food, it is about surviving.”  

The campaign will be run by the charities trained volunteers and will be shared across the foodbanks social media and have the help from a monthly sponsor through partnerships with businesses and organizations.

To find out more information and donate to the charities go fund me page you can here: https://sheffields6.foodbank.org.uk/2024/03/25/cost-of-surviving-our-2024-25-campaign/