THE current economic downturn has led to a huge increase in the number of individuals and families turning to the Daily Bread Food Larder at Christian Action Resource Enterprise (Care).
Last year, the charity handed out 468 emergency food parcels to people in North East Lincolnshire from its headquarters in Hainton Avenue, Grimsby.
However, the charity has given away 129 food packages in January alone, and staff expect the situation to get even worse.
Sarah Taylor, the general manager of Care, which is run in conjunction with North East Lincolnshire Churches Together, said: "Because of increased needs, we simply need more donations.
"Although we do give out food parcels, people cannot just walk in and claim one.
"They are referred from an agency, the Job Centre, support workers or even teachers.
"Last year we helped 468 people in total, which is obviously more than one a day. But in January this year, we gave out 129 food packages. As soon as we get food in, it goes out again – and we are expecting the demand to get a lot worse as time goes on."
A typical food package of non-perishable goods will last a person or a family three days.
The idea is not to be able to feed someone for a sustained period of time, but to help them out of a crisis.