THE RECESSION remains in Fermanagh and many families struggling to get by are being forced to turn to food banks. John Shades and his wife Charlene work at the Lakes Vineyard Church’s Inside-Out food store at Queen Street, Enniskillen, a food bank for those who cannot afford to feed themselves or their families. The store provides a range of food and currently serves a considerable number of people in the county.
“Yesterday we had two people in while the week previous we had 18 so it changes every week,” explained John, “Last year, from March until December we gave away 542 food parcels and since the second week in January until last week we have given away 118.
“It’s very much based on the person or the size of the family, some people who have addictions and therefore that illness they only eat certain things. Some people may only eat beans but others won’t eat potatoes or any of the sauces. We offer them four weeks of support but after that if they come we will offer them additional support.”
He continued: “The majority of people we see would be long-term unemployed, people who are on DLA or on benefits. Sometimes we have had people where one of the partners have been long time sick and it’s made it difficult for them to pay bills and made them short for a few weeks.
“We have had people come in and claim they have nine kids, but you have to be blunt with them as there are people out there with genuine big families who need more stuff.”
The pastors at the church explained they offer prayers, but prayers will not feed hungry bellies. They expressed their concerns the food bank is but scratching the surface of the problem .
“People are ashamed and embarrassed to come to something like this. We know that. We work with different organisations to help alleviate that like the Housing Executive.
“There are families who have had to come to us on over 10 occasions because they were struggling for so long because their circumstances were still the same.
“We don’t want people to become dependant on us though.
“There’s people who come in who have addictions to various drugs and alcohol, which are the two main ones, when they come like that, some people have asked why we would give them food if it’s self-inflicted but even if it is, but it doesn’t mean their children should suffer and we have to think of their empty bellies.”
The group have a trolley permanently in Asda and depend on the wider community on support for the vital service.
“If we weren’t here, people may have to go without food and looking at it from that perspective makes it worthwhile.
“We also had people who are recently released from prison and are getting back into society and seeing that, somebody has to help.
“People try to categorise poverty in one way, but poverty raises its head in different ways. There is a lot of poverty out there people don’t see.
“We want them to come here, don’t sit at home and starve and don’t get into debt through steep lenders or shark loans. Poverty is a much more deep-rooted issue.”
The Lakes Vineyard Church’s Inside-Out food store is located at Queen Street, Enniskillen, beside the 24 hour shop. The windows of the shop are frosted to help protect the identity of those using the service and everyone is offered ASDA shopping bags to take their items in. They are open every Wednesday from 10am to 12pm.
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