Published on Monday, 07 January 2013 18:34 | 
Foodbanks are desperate for donations. Shocked after hearing that local children were fainting in class because their parents couldn’t afford to feed them properly, I sought out a foodbank in the Greater Manchester area. My provisions were repackaged immediately by a volunteer and handed out to sad, hungry-looking people in the long queue outside the church.
We are living through the worst recession since the Second World War and as living costs spiral and benefits are cut, more and more poorer families are skipping meals. In 2012 The Trussell Trust, which runs a network of 270 foodbanks across the UK, fed 100% more people than it had in 2011.