SUPPORT workers have told of the ever-increasing demand for food from young people in poverty in Dumfries and Galloway.
People doing invaluable work helping struggling youngsters took part in a short documentary, titled ‘Through Young Eyes’, which gives a unique insight into what they are witnessing on a daily basis.
Zoe Nix, a wider achievement worker with the council’s youth work service, shared some sad experiences on camera.
She said: “Over the past few years, we’ve seen an increase in young people attending services who are coming in genuinely hungry, or looking for food that they can then take home to siblings and family members.
“We’ve seen an increase in young people expressing worries about family situations, like ‘how am I going to afford Christmas for mum? How’s mum going to afford Christmas for us?’”
Kieran Brown, a financial capability advisor with Dumfries and Galloway’s citizens advice bureau, added: “A lot of people are needing food parcels and energy vouchers because they can’t afford their electricity.
“We see quite a lot of those and we also have an emergency phone line where we do get a lot of fuel voucher requests and food parcel requests.”
Lochside Community Association delivered around 2600 meals to people within the community of all ages last year, and also operated its Grub Club over the school festive and Easter holidays to provide meals to families.
Karen Wylie, a volunteer with the Grub Club food support scheme, said: “We started Grub Club in 2018, and that was to combat holiday hunger.
“So we run it three days a week in the holiday time for the kids and their families.
“That started with three small children and now I have about 23 at 3pm, or the back of three, coming in to see if I’ve got anything. I’ve seen some of the children actually saying, ‘can I take this for my mum?’”
