UK: Long lines in front of charities in London to get food

The economic situation in Britain has become worrying, inflation has reached 10%, and the queues at food banks are longer than before, as there are seven million people in the United Kingdom who cannot find anything to eat because of the lack of hands.

Standing in long lines on the sidewalks in the streets of the UK for free food has become a common sight, calling for the intensification of the activities of these charities, but at a time when the demand for food has increased by a large proportion, donations have fallen sharply.

Thus, the country, which is one of the most powerful superpowers in the world, today has more food banks than fast food restaurants such as McDonald’s and KFC.

“I don’t want to come here, it’s humiliating, but I don’t have a choice, I don’t want to steal from the shops,” says a man waiting in front of a food bank in London.

Another woman who came with the same goal says: “Food has become expensive, and it is difficult”.

Another man says, “We used to donate food here, and now we need it”.

A charity in London employs about two hundred employees and two hundred volunteers, and they collect food that has not been sold from the shops, to provide a million meals every month.

Food is also collected from local wholesalers, and its shelf life doesn’t exceed three days sometimes, so bringing it into the association’s warehouses for classification and sorting until it reaches its beneficiaries is a race against time.

“Everyone is in a state of austerity right now, and we depend on companies to save money and not produce surpluses or waste food,” says Daniel McAlpine of City Harvest London.

The association delivers its materials to about 350 distribution points, including a church in east London that turns into a food bank once a week.