Dozens of emergency food parcels were handed out to children in Stroud every week during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic.
That’s according to a report by the Trussell Trust showing a record 2.5 million parcels were distributed by its network of foodbanks across the UK in 2020-21.
The charity is urgently calling on UK governments to end the need for food banks “once and for all” amid soaring demand for help from families in crisis.
In Stroud, the charity handed out 5,228 emergency food parcels over the period.
Of those, 1,998 went to children – equivalent to 38 every week.
The overall figure, which includes parcels with three days’ worth of supplies, was a 34 per cent increase on the total number recorded the previous year.