NEW people are turning up to the food bank every week and the need has doubled in the past year, says the Rev Andrew Evans.

The Rev Evans, who runs the charity Cupboard Love with his wife Chris, said it was a myth that the country was out of recession.

He said the need was greater than ever and more and more people were getting into difficulties - and they were expecting double last year's numbers wanting help at Christmas He said: “We are seeing new people virtually every week.

“If last Christmas is anything to go by it will be a busy time.”

He said some just a short period - perhaps because their benefits have been delayed. Others it is a long term thing where they are just not able to manage the weekly budget.

He said: “People share their stories and those sometimes are very sad and very hard to hear.

“Nobody comes to a food bank unless they need to.

“We say what we offer is a hand up not a handout. We are just here to support people.

Last year the charity gave out Christmas hampers with a complete Christmas lunch, including turkey. It also liaises with schools to identify children and families who might need a little bit of help at Christmas.

In some cases the charity has even provided stockings.

The Rev Evans added: “We expect the number of hampers we give out this year to double.”

The charity gets referrals from at least a dozen other agencies - from Citizens' Advice, to the local social services, and the fire service.

He said: “The fire brigade has contacted Chris because when they do fire assessments one of the things they do is open the fridge and if it is empty they contact us.

“That we are out of the recession is absolutely not true, it really isn't.

“It annoys and infuriates me that politicians dissemble about that.

“The wage freeze for example - it has been one per cent for four years and prices, particularly of basic things like heating and electric, have rocketed and even folks who are in employment are struggling, let alone those who have lost a job.”

He said changes to the benefit system were adding to the problems.

“The system now is punitive - for example ie you don't send a form back on time or don't attend an appointment then your benefits are stopped.

“Rather than be what was envisaged as a supportive system, it has increasingly become a punitive system.

“We have had folks who are elderly and husband died and they are in a bigger house and they have benefits because of this so-called spare room tax.

“You suddenly lop that amount out of somebody's weekly budget and it is a huge amount of money in percentage terms.”

“Because the Job Centre is often shut we have had folks who have had to go to Weymouth and who don't have the bus fare and whose benefits have subsequently been cut.”

Cupboard Love runs Walk-in Wednesdays at St Mary's Church hall where people come in for food parcels and are offered coffee and cake.

Donations for the food bank are always welcome.

BRIDPORT'S Citizens' Advice Bureau has had at least ten enquiries about food banks in the last month alone, said new manager Rovarn Wickremasinghe.

And those include more and more homeless people, he said.

He said there were a variety of reasons for the increase - delays in getting benefits processed - particularly Employment Support Allowance and the new disability benefit Personal Independence Payment.

“That is largely because people need to have medical assessments and they are taking up to six or eight months longer than usual to do.”

“We see quite a lot of homeless enquiries. People have had benefit suspended because they have had no contact address.

“We have had to let them use the CAB address and while they have been waiting we have referred them for food parcels.”

He said problems also arose with the prevalence of zero contract hours, temporary contracts or seasonal work.

Rovran added: “Again it relates back to benefit assessments and equally if they go back into work they can often be waiting for a month before they get paid.

“The last point is that there is a better public awareness in Bridport that this sort of help exists.

“Times are quite hard for people at the moment particularly with these problems with benefits “We see a lot of poverty associated with homelessness, people have a need for immediate short term help and we are seeing a rise in those kinds of enquiries.

“We urge people to come to us for advice and we can see how we can help.”