801 people were supported by Mid West Simon’s food bank in Nenagh on a regular basis last year.
CEO of the charity, Jackie Bonfield, says the figure is ever increasing and a reflection of the ongoing surge in the cost of living.
290 people under the age of 15 were among those to benefit from the work of the Nenagh food bank, while it’s believed that many more young students from this region are likely to be accessing such help in Limerick.
Jackie says that the cost of third level education is leaving many families in distress:
“There are families coming to us who would have been considered working, getting an income into the house, just staying above the bread line in effect paying the mortgage or the rent, keeping the bills paid.
“But now the young lad or young girl is gone to college, and all of a sudden they’re subsidising that person in college. And that’s drawing on the few quid that’s left.
“And there are a lot of families coming to us because they’re at home and paying for the kids to go to school and to college, and the cost of everything is increasing.”
