For a Christmas season that marks the end of a year in which people have been financially hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Foodbank Lifeline Foundation is appealing to the public to donate food items to address the needs of a large number of people requiring assistance.

The Foundation has launched the annual Reverse Advent Calendar initiative calling on members of the public to donate one non-perishable food item every day, creating a food pack that “will become someone in need’s lifeline this season”.

Foodbank offers support to individuals who are in a crisis situation, as assessed by social workers, through the provision of weekly food packs. The pandemic has resulted in the number of people requiring assistance increasing “significantly”.

Prior to the pandemic, Foodbank was serving around 100 families per week. During the peak of the pandemic, this went up to as many as 700. The number is currently back down to 300 but the team is expecting another surge during Christmas.

In April, 36 organisations, including Foodbank, had said that they were extremely concerned about the alerts they were receiving from people who do not have sufficient food and were about to be evicted because they were unable to pay rent, stressing it was the duty of the government to ensure nobody was reduced to poverty.

The NGOs said many were already at risk of poverty before the COVID-19 outbreak, but the number of people requiring urgent and immediate assistance was increasing exponentially.

There are a number of ways you can support the Foundation’s efforts: Order a box, create your own or collect items and take them to a drop off point. You can also donate to the foundation through Revolut or SMS. More information is available here.