Coventry pensioner, 80, has to rely on foodbanks 'despite working hard his whole life'

[dutchman]

The Haggard Centre in Willenhall runs a local food hub - and had already run out of food by 10.15am on the day we visited



People have been sharing heartbreaking tales of why they have to rely on food banks. CoventryLive visited the Haggard Community Space in Willenhall, which runs a food hub every Wednesday.

One 80-year-old man, who gave his name only as Jack, said his pension is not enough to survive on and he has to get food from a foodbank despite 'working hard my whole life'.

Jack, not only comes to the food bank to get items for himself but also for his wife who has not left the house for 5 years and his closest friend who is going through a difficult time. And he fears the situation is only going to get worse.

He said: ''I am an old pensioner, I have worked hard all of my life, the pension is the lowest thing and I cannot live on it. I think it's good things like these food hubs exist and there needs to be more of them as some people are so poor today and it's not going to get better, it's just going to get worse.''

Jack is just one of the people who rely on the services provided by the food hub, which runs every Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

When we arrived, the place had a family-friendly atmosphere, with some service users playing activities such as bowls, or sitting down having a cup of tea chatting to one another.

We were greeted by Emma Scrimgeour who works at the food hub and she told us how sometimes it can be up and down she said: ''Last week we fed 144 people, we get a delivery from fare share which we pay for, some weeks it's brilliant some weeks it's not so good as it depends on what they get from the supermarkets.''

When CoventryLive arrived at the food hub it was 10:15 and Emma told us that they had already run out of food, she said: ''Its difficult, so if anyone can donate items such as biscuits, crisps, and tins of meat, so we can keep it running and keep it going that would be brilliant.''

At the community centre, there was a small kitchen where volunteers were coming in and out, one volunteer called Donna Burgess offered to speak to us about her journey at the food hub.

She said: ''It helps quite a lot during the week, due to everything going on it helps to stock up the fridge or cupboards.''

Donna said now it is approaching Christmas, the food hub needs more donations that would go towards helping families have a Christmas dinner.

If you wish to help the food hub or give a donation you can donate Monday to Friday 9 am - 3 pm