[WATCH] Foodbank provided for 700 families every week in pandemic

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lifeline Foundation was assisting on average 700 families per week, foodbank manager Barbara Caruana revealed as the charity gets ready for its annual Christmas drive to provide essentials for impoverished families.

Now at a transitional location in Paceville, the Lifeline Foodbank is preparing for a final move to Marsa after having outgrown its premises in Valletta.

Foodbank provided for 700 families every week in pandemic

Caruana said that during April, May, and June – when Malta was in partial lockdown due to COVID-19 – there was a notable increase in families requesting assistance. “During this time, we were feeding on average, 700 families per week. This has gone down considerably now in November to 300 families per week. However, we expect numbers to increase again with the Christmas season looming.” 

Caruana said that before the pandemic, the Foodbank was serving around 100 families per week – making the increase of families who resorted to the bank an unprecedented six-fold increase. “Now, as we head into the winter months, we are also going to start seeing the long-term effects of COVID.”

(Photo: James Bianchi/MediaToday)

The Foodbank was set up back in 2015 after an individual was seen rummaging through bins in Valletta. The people the Foodbank services are working people who for one reason or another still are unable to be financially independent. However, they have also had people who are unemployed, some even sleeping in cars.

According to the European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey, 82,758 people were at risk of poverty in Malta in 2018. That year, the average household income was €34,627, and the average disposable household income was estimated at €28,505. The survey found that the number of persons living in households with an income below the at-risk-of-poverty line (€9,212) was 82,758. This translated into an at-risk-of-poverty rate of 17.1%, or  0.3% points higher than that recorded for the previous year.

This has only been made worse by the pandemic. “The whole world is struggling, so Malta is no exception, and that is where we are trying out utmost to help and be a bit of relief for these families,” Caruana said. 

During the height of the pandemic, in May and June unemployment peaked at 4.2% – over 11,496 were unemployed. That figure has since dropped slightly, and in September, the rate of unemployment was 4%. The most affected group was men aged between 25 and 74. 10,731 persons were unemployed in September.

(Photo: James Bianchi/MediaToday)

Caruana said that people who were struggling could reach out to the Foodbank through a social worker. “People can contact Caritas, Appogg, YMCA, and others and they will then be referred to us,” she explained. The Foodbank also receives referrals from mental health clinics, Mount Carmel Hospital and from the oncology unit at Mater Dei Hospital, among others.

Caruana said that this year, the Foodbank had already handed out 12,000 packages so far, and prepares around 325-350 bags per week. 

This year, for the fifth year in a row, the Lifeline Foundation is running a reverse advent calendar. “What we ask is that during Advent, during this time leading up to Christmas, people think about others who don’t have the type of Christmas they have, and we ask them so that each day, instead of opening an advent calendar and getting a chocolate, they put one item into a box and at the end of the 24 days at Christmas there will be 24 items in a box, and those items will help us feed a family.”

(Photo: James Bianchi/MediaToday)

She said that people should keep in mind that the foodbank is always struggling to get breakfast items. “Cereal, UHT milk, tinned milk... we are also in need of jam and tinned fruit. Usually, they are things that are slightly more expensive. It would help us that instead of getting three bags of pasta, we get one cereal box, or one tinned fruit, or one UHT milk,” Caruana said.

Anyone interested in participating can drop off reverse advent calendar boxes at their nearest Quicklets, Zanzi home outlets, The Atrium, Jacob’s Brew (Marsascala), Intercomp locations, The London Barber Shop, XFM Radio Station, as well as the Foundation’s new site in Marsa.