'I lost my dignity': Inside Britain's biggest food bank as people struggle to afford the basics

Hannah first came to Newcastle Foodbank seven years ago after she lost her job and faced homelessness. She had no choice but to seek help to afford the basics, but it took courage.

“I was shitting myself, I’m not going to lie,” Hannah, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, admits as she recalls her first time at the food bank. “It was scary. But after the first time, it was alright. It was good.”

Newcastle Foodbank, featured in the Ken Loach film I, Daniel Blake and believed to be the biggest food bank in the UK, offers more than just food – it is a vital support work, and increasingly necessary after 14 years of austerity decimated public services. 

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At St James’ Church in Benwell, in Newcastle’s west end, the Big Issue meets Hannah and others attending one of the food bank’s weekly Pathways sessions. Advice workers sit at large round tables in a warm room, and people trickle in for support on benefits, housing, health and asylum. Today is quiet, the staff say. Sometimes they see hundreds of people.

“I got housing sorted, and they helped with job interviews,” Hannah says. She has recently got a job as a cleaner at a local school after years of trying to find work. The food bank gave her references. “I’m just waiting for my DBS to come through and then I can start.”

More than 25,000 food parcels were distributed by Newcastle Foodbank between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024 – the most the food bank has ever issued in its 11 year history. 

But they remain “cautiously optimistic”, says communications and campaigns manager Declan Mulholland, as the numbers of people needing help dropped this summer. They distributed 5,397 parcels between June and August, down by 19% on the previous year.

This is at least in part down to the extensive work the food bank is doing to help people become less reliant on the parcels, like ensuring they get the benefits they need.

Debbie, whose name has been changed, was a young single mum when she started coming to the food bank. She had been beaten up by people she knew including a close friend, and her confidence was shattered. Her mental health spiralled and she could no longer work.

“I was just in a bad place,” Debbie says. “I was hospitalised. I lost all my dignity. I was so scared. I had a job but I couldn’t go in with my mental health. Everything hit at once. And then I was told to go to the food bank.”

Beyond food parcels, which were a lifeline, she was also helped onto universal credit and personal independence payment. She is now much better and volunteers at the food bank to help other people who are facing poverty.

“We do this for people like Debbie,” says Carole Rowland, the Pathways, advocacy and volunteer manager at Newcastle Foodbank.

Newcastle City Council signed off £14.4m in cuts this year, blaming austerity for decimating council budgets. Its crisis support service was ceased and its support independence scheme, which provides people in poverty with basics like beds and cookers, was cut back.

“We’re a food bank, but there’s a lot more to what we do now,” Mulholland says. “A significant part of our work is around welfare with advice to get people the benefits they’re entitled to. I think it’s something all food banks around the country are starting to take on.”

Newcastle Foodbank is the only ‘food bank of sanctuary’ in the UK – meaning it is recognised for its work to support asylum seekers and refugees in the local area. 

When Rowland welcomes people to the session, speaking into a microphone in front of huddles of people sitting in the pews, she is followed by an interpreter who translates her words into Arabic and Farsi.

“We have certain standards for refugees and certain standards for asylum seekers and we really just try to get them through,” Rowland says. “We encourage them to perhaps volunteer for us and just try to help them in that way.”

They have a community garden, just down the road from the church, where volunteers grow fresh vegetables to distribute at the food bank. People busily work in the garden while others pack parcels for tomorrow’s food bank.

The night before, the Big Issue had spent time with Rowland and volunteers running a food collection outside Newcastle Football Club – the work is constant and it takes a huge number of people from across the community to make it happen. One woman donatex§s £2,000 worth of winter coats every year. 

The longest-serving volunteer, Christine Wood, has spent 11 years offering her time to the food bank – ever since it was first set up. She appeared in I, Daniel Blake as a volunteer on the front desk, in a heartbreaking scene where single mother Katie (played by Hayley Squires) breaks down as she cracks into a tin of food because she is so hungry. 

There are times it feels desperate in the food bank in real life, and the pandemic and cost of living crisis have taken their toll. Rowland says some of the people she has supported have turned to sex work and loansharks. Others have taken their own lives.

But they are saving lives too. Nine people have been diagnosed with breast cancer after they identified lumps following health visits at the food bank. A registered nurse volunteers for the Pathways session and offers a listening ear and advice if they have any health concerns or giving them support with booking appointments or registering with the GP.

They run a community pantry, which aims to provide affordable food to local people in areas of multiple deprivation. Members of the pantry get around £20 worth of groceries for a membership fee of £5, and it is a step towards no longer needing the food bank.

“Poverty takes away any choice,” Rowland says. “That is all money does. It doesn’t make you a better person. It doesn’t really make you happier. It just gives you choice. So we try to give people choice here.”

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