West Cork food-parcel service opens for people in need

Sharon Mullins, volunteer co-ordinator, with Carrol Maguire, Hemp Sirmons, and Matt Corke, director, at the first Feed Cork Food Bank service, at Bandon town hall. Picture: Denis Boyle

A food-parcel service for people in need has opened in Bandon, and free boxes of foods, such as cheese, cereal, pasta, and rice, as well as frozen meat, and fresh fruit and vegetables, are now available to collect by appointment.

The Feed Cork Food Bank's city-based, volunteer-led programme opened a new satellite location in Bandon earlier this month. It is now serving West Cork and surrounding areas.

Every Thursday afternoon, the service will be distributing food boxes to families and individuals in need of assistance. In compliance with Covid-19 restrictions, the service is by appointment only and people seeking to use the service can make contact via phone or Facebook message to arrange an appointment.

The Feed Cork Food Bank, which has been operating since May 2017,  had a 30% to 40% uptake in demand once the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country in March, according to spokesperson, Sharon Mullins.

The service was set up, initially, she says, to restore dignity to people under financial pressure, and to "remove the stigma around food poverty". The programme distributes more than 220 boxes of food every week, from its city base at the Cork Church  on Lower Oliver Plunkett St, and is also active in counties Wexford and Clare.  It has the support of the Department of Social Protection, through an EU-funded programme, as well as of Food Cloud, in conjunction with a range of well-known grocery chains.

However, volunteers began to notice that a number of people were travelling from as far away as Bandon to collect food parcels from the food bank's base in Cork City centre, so the group launched a Thursday service from Bandon town hall on November 12.  Since this service was launched, says Ms Mullins, their volunteers have seen people come from as far as Skibbereen, and other areas of the West Cork region, to avail of the free food boxes.

"Since last March, we have recorded an increase of between 30% and 40% in demand for the service,” Ms Mullins says, adding that while the food bank was a small operation, it participated in a general community response, along with other organisations,  such as the St Vincent de Paul and Penny Dinners.

"If you are someone who has become unemployed and is on the PUP payment, that money will only go so far, in terms of mortgage payments or rent, heating or medical bills, and sometimes food is the last item and there may not be enough money left to cover it," says Ms Mullins.  The food bank is planning to launch a pilot programme for children, called After School Fuel, in two Cork City schools in the new year.

"This is because we are getting reports that there is a need," Ms Mullins says. "We are being told that there are significant numbers of children coming to school hungry,”  and this could be  due to a number of reasons, ranging from illness or addiction to poor parental support.

The service is already supporting one city school with food baskets, and, with the support of a Cork food company, is also providing breakfasts to another school five days a week. "There is definitely an increase in demand for our services, since the beginning of the Covid-19 service last March," she says.

Anyone wishing to make an appointment to avail of the food collection from the food bank's Cork City base should message through the Feed Cork Food Bank Facebook page, or phone [phone]. The Bandon-based service can be contacted at 089 2642278.