Ray Whitley, Mike Hulse, Fran Knight, Liz Forristal, Lawrence Symes and Alex Murphy are completing a series of physical challenges all to raise money for The Trussell Trust Food Banks.

3 Events - 46 Miles and 200 Obstacles!

Sunday 10th March - Milton Keynes Half Marathon

Sunday 28th April - Stratford Upon Avon Half Marathon

Saturday 11th May - 20 Miles & Obstacles - Rat Race

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Dear All,

Today the Trussell Trust have distributed a press release which details worrying figures around the number of people in Britain turning to food banks. 

This has received widespread coverage this morning. 

It has been reported that the Trussell Trust, which runs the largest network of food banks in the UK, has seen referrals to its centres increase to nearly 350,000 in the year to April 2013, up from 130,000 the previous year, representing a 170% rise. 

The Executive Chairman of the Charity, Chris Mould, has said that he expects demand to continue to rise and that the past few weeks have seen a significant rise in the number of referrals because of cuts in housing benefits and reductions in the benefit cap. It is argued that this rise is putting additional strain on local branches which rely on public donations and volunteers. 

 

The link to the Financial Times article is below but coverage also appeared in The Guardian and The Independent. 

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/aa02aeee-ab53-11e2-ac71-00144feabdc0.html#slide0 

Food Banks – The Trussell Trust

 

 

 

13 million people live below the poverty line in the UK.

Every day people in the UK go hungry for reasons ranging from redundancy to receiving an unexpected bill on a low income. Trussell Trust foodbanks provide a minimum of three days emergency food and support to people experiencing crisis in the UK.

In 2011-12 foodbanks fed 128,687 people nationwide, in 2012-13 we anticipate this number will rise to over 230,000. Rising costs of food and fuel combined with static income, high unemployment and changes to benefits are causing more and more people to come to foodbanks for help.

The Trussell Trust partners with churches and communities to open new foodbanks nationwide. With over 250 foodbanks currently launched, our goal is for every town to have one.