An earlier news item (17.08.23), referred to the fact that we’re breaking records, although we’d rather not be because they reflect ever-rising demand. This trend has continued and, in our last quarter, which covers the period from July to September, we redistributed 25 tonnes of food, taking our total to just over 93. It now seems likely that we’ll have broken the 100 tonne barrier by the middle of November, which is far in excess of the total for whole of the previous year.
To provide some kind of context the August news item compared the weight of the food we’d distributed back then to a plane. If we break the 100 tonne barrier we’ll have gone stratospheric: the Space Shuttle, including its orbiter, main engines and solid rocket boosters, weighed about 100 tonnes at lift off. Alternatively, for something more down to earth, with the heaviest elephants on record weighing close to 10 tonnes, we’ve distributed food comparable to the weight of 10 elephants.
Whether it’s planes, space shuttles or elephants, however, such context, while helpful, shouldn’t overshadow or make light of the real challenges that these volumes reflect. Although there’s no official figure for an ‘average’ meal weight, the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), a climate action NGO working around the globe to tackle the causes of the climate crisis, recommends 420g.
Using WRAP’s calculation, if we break the November barrier we’ll have provided in the region of 238,000 meals for the many families and individuals we support. Regrettably, according to a recent report by the Trussell Trust (20.09.23), the cost of living crisis is deepening for people on the lowest incomes – but we remain determined to rise to the challenge. Anyone wishing to help us do so by making a donation to our vital work can do so easily via this link.
