Kingston Foodbank has joined with United Kindmums, a Netmums national campaign to help feed the area’s neediest families.
Kingston Netmums are supporting a local food bank as part of a nationwide campaign to fix “Broken Britain” by helping feed families in crisis.
United Kindmums, a patriotic-themed campaign to encourage mums across the country to perform small acts of kindness, has partnered with the Trussell Trust to raise awareness about donating to Kingston Foodbank, after a survey revealed that one in five mums regularly misses meals in order to feed her kids.
Two thousand people were surveyed and the results show that one in fourteen mums regularly pays a friend or relative’s bills; furthermore, one in ten mums buys food for their neighbours who can no longer afford a full shop.
Kingston United Reformed Church established the food bank with the Trussell Trust, a Christian charity that works with churches to set up food banks, in January 2012 and has served emergency food supplies to almost 700 families.
Jane Hamilton, Director of Communications for Netmums, said: “We are encouraging all of our members to buy one or two small items on each weekly shop to donate to their local food bank. Even if one per cent of our members take part, that’s 13,000 mums a week helping to feed Britain’s neediest families.
“Currently we know that food banks are opening at a rate of one every four days around the UK because the need is that pressing.”
Food banks have proliferated since 2010, from 79 food banks to almost 250 in operation across the UK.
According to a report by Kingston council, there are approximately 5,000 impoverished children living in the Kingston area. Children are said to be ‘living in poverty’ when their family’s income is 60 per cent below the country’s current median household income.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies calculated the median household income for 2011 at approximately £ 21,528.
Netmums founder, Siobhan Freegard, said: Mums are the backbone of every street, in every town in Britain and the glue that holds communities together. United Kindmums aims to bring Britain’s mums together, so with each of us making just one small change a day, we’ll show Britain isn’t quite so broken after all.”
United Kindmums was launched in February of this year and so far has recruited 15 mums in the Kingston area to volunteer and donate food.
A full shopping list of non-perishable items can be found here .
