‘If it wasn’t here I wouldn’t be able to cope with life’: Ex-chef thanks food bank staff

A man who was supported by a food bank after he was forced to give up his job due to illness has thanked the team for their help.

Richard Morgan, 49, from Streatham, is a current client at Norwood and Brixton Foodbank in Church Barcombe Avenue, Streatham Hill.

He said: “I got introduced to the food bank because the organisation I used to go to got closed down. I have major arthritis in my knees so I have had to give up my work.”

Mr Morgan had previously worked as a chef in a busy kitchen, working 60 hours a week and often 12-hour days, and he received a good wage.

He said: “I was on £1700 a month, it was on good money and I was doing 60 hours of work on average, so I was full-time.

“It was quite an intense job but I was good at it, and then I got ill so suddenly and that put me in a financial crisis. I had to give up my job, and then I was living on Universal Credit.”

Staff at the food bank showed Mr Morgan that he could claim welfare benefits to help him while he was ill and unable to work.

He said: “They told me I had to go to an appointment for my Personal Independence Payment and a tribunal, someone from the food bank came along with me and took time out of his own time. 

“The level of support you get here is undeniable. If you are in need, this is the place to come. They know how hard it is.”

The Lambeth Foodbank Partnership handed out 25,267 emergency food parcels to people facing hardship across South London in the last year, with 9,634 of these going to children.

This marks a 15 per cent increase in the number of emergency food parcels distributed from the Lambeth Foodbank Partnership compared to last year.

Mr Morgan said: “Food prices are going up, off, out of control. So, if I didn’t have this place to come and get a food voucher I’d be having to borrow money from my mum or my dad. 

“It takes a lot of stress and pressure off, so it’s made me healthier, being able to come to a place like this and not having that worry.”

Norwood and Brixton Foodbank opened in September 2011. Mr Morgan is just one of many people that count on its support.

He said: “If it wasn’t here, I’d be sitting down in my house, depressed, really not being able to cope with life.

“This place gives you that peace of mind where you can come somewhere and know that you’re going to get genuine help. 

“You just don’t get this kind of thing everywhere with every organisation you go to.”

To donate or volunteer at the food bank visit: www.norwoodbrixton.foodbank.org.uk

Pictured top: Richard Morgan (Picture: Jon Taylor)