The increased cost of living is noticeable for many. More and more people are getting groceries from the food banks. But the facilities are also reaching their limits.
The Tafel in Germany have never helped so many people in need as they do now. “Since the beginning of the year, we have seen an increase in customers of 50 percent,” said the chairman of the umbrella organization Tafel Deutschland, Jochen Brühl, of the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post”.
A total of about two million people would come. At the same time, food donations have declined. “Around a third of the boards are so overwhelmed that they had to stop admissions,” said Brühl. Sending people away who are looking for help is enormously psychologically stressful for helpers. According to Brühl, the individual fates are striking. “People have great existential fears and worries about how they can pay for food, housing and heating.”
However, the panels could not catch “what the state cannot do”. State aid is “insufficient” and comes too late. “People who come to the panels have no reserves. People affected by poverty now need help quickly,” emphasized Brühl and also appealed to society’s solidarity: “We are a rich country, we can make sure that all people do well through this winter is coming.”
At the end of September, the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) put the number of people who get supplies from the food banks at almost 1.1 million people. The institute referred to a survey from 2020. Rising prices and the needs of refugees led to a high rush at the issuing offices.
Around 960 food banks nationwide distribute food that can no longer be sold to the needy. According to the DIW survey, three quarters of the people who use food banks live on basic security. Many are at risk of poverty and have health problems. Single parents and couples with children use the boards particularly frequently. A quarter of the people who benefited from the panels are children.
