It was a cold Friday evening in December, 2011.
I was sitting at my desk at The Trussell Trust and I opened up my emails to find the following message: "Hello, my name is Jamie. I can't believe I am doing this. I have two degrees and lost my job in March when my company went into administration. I exhausted my savings by June and had to go on Jobseekers Allowance.
"I get a little help with housing benefit but when it comes time to cut corners, it's the food, electric or gas that goes. I'm relying on my free library membership to send this email. I live in Glasgow, haven't eaten since Monday and cannot keep going days on end without food.
"I hate having to ask but I don't know what if any alternative there might be short of stealing. Humbly yours, Jamie."
Jamie is one of many articulate, intelligent and highly-qualified individuals who, due to circumstances beyond his control, had to rely on a food bank to avoid having to choose between stealing and starvation.
When he received food via our Glasgow SE food bank in Govanhill, he was referred due to low income. In the last 12 months, 2612 others in Scotland were referred despite being in work or having recently lost work. In the post-industrial town of Greenock, 509 people were referred to the Inverclyde food bank due to low income since September 2012. Furthermore, 4264 in Scotland experienced a benefit delay and 2168 a benefit change, many of which have been attributed to sanctions.
In the last 12 months, 14,318 men, women and children were referred to us, representing a 150% increase in the use of food banks in Scotland. This is the highest percentage and numerical rate of growth in Scotland to date. Over the last three financial years, food banks operated in partnership with The Trussell Trust have experienced a national increase of more than 100% each year and this pre-dates the full implications of the Welfare Reform Act.
What would it mean to live in a country where this trend continues? Could we actually envisage what it would look like for more than half a million men, women and children, or even 1% of the entire UK population, to use a food bank? Adrian Curtis, the food bank network director for The Trussell Trust, does not think it is beyond the realm of possibility.
As The Trussell Trust revealed the exponential growth in Scottish food banks this week, he said: "Unless the national picture improves significantly we do not expect the challenges faced by individuals and families in the United Kingdom to disappear."
Ultimately, these statistics serve as a wake-up call to our Government that we can no longer ignore the issue of hidden hunger. As we emerge into an increasingly hostile economic climate it is my fear that we, as a nation, fail to prioritise the provision of vital support for those who most desperately need it and in doing so, run the risk of becoming as bankrupt morally as we are economically.
On the other hand, we cannot allow ourselves to make the mistake many politicians have of describing the current national crisis as an indictment or a disgrace. Inflammatory language serves only to stigmatise and thus exacerbate the shame and embarrassment people feel when they use food banks, because they feel complicit in the rising demand criticised by those who are supposed to represent them.
In the two years since I took up my post with The Trussell Trust, I have seen the launch of 30 food banks in Scotland. I do not celebrate such rapid growth, but what I do celebrate is the way communities pull together in lean times.
Communities did so in Scotland during the Highland potato famine in the mid-19th century, during the post-war rations and they are doing so again during the emergence of an economic crisis yet to reach its peak.
These figures have exceeded all our expectations and with a further rise projected over the next year, the time is now for politicians from all parties to target the root causes of food poverty and communities to target the effect. Only together can we make a positive impact on this nation.
Ewan Gurr is Scotland development officer for The Trussell Trust.
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