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A £4,000 grant from a community wind farm fund has been awarded to Rhymney Valley Foodbank and will help during the cost-of-living crisis. 

Pen Bryn Oer Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund announced the grant in November and it is due be received in the next ten days. It was the highest of six grants awarded in Tredegar and Rhymney by Grantscape, the charity which administers the fund. 

According to Steve Jones, food bank operations manager, the money is a very welcome addition at a time when people are struggling. 

“It’s going to help people in the hardest of times,” he said, with donations down by around 50% and a clear increase in people using the service. 

The kind of help people need is also expanding due to a rise in energy prices. “We’re giving away energy vouchers now as well,” said Steve, adding that if people receive emergency food they also need a means of cooking it. 

Steve is seeing a lot of people who need help and are “so embarrassed” by it, including a family with two adults working for the NHS and three children who came to the foodbank after running out of food.

“We’re in a worse state now than in the depths of the pandemic,” he said.

In fact, the amount received by Rhymney Valley Foodbank reflects the current difficulties, with the organisation receiving more than the £2,000 it originally applied for.

“Given the troubled circumstances we’re currently living in, they doubled the amount,” said Steve. 

The Rhymney Valley Foodbank covers Rhymney, New Tredegar and Aberbargoed. This particular grant, however, will fund work in Rhymney, Pontlottyn and Abertysswg due to the Pen Bryn Oer Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund criteria covering just Rhymney and Tredegar Community Council areas.

Food banks have been on the rise due to the cost-of-living crisis, with a rise in inflation. Meanwhile, gas prices have risen by 141% and electricity by 65% since winter 2021/22, according to statistics from the House of Commons Library.

According to the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN), 93% of the 550 foodbanks across the UK saw an increase or significant increase in the need for their services since the start of 2022, with 95% adding that the rise in use was related to the cost-of-living. 

According to Steve, while food banks may have begun as an “emergency” fix, they are now a long-term reality in the UK. “They’re embedded into the fabric of UK life,” he said.

Given their necessary place in society, not having shame or embarrassment when using them is important, according to Steve.

“For a lot of people out there…there’s not a lot of hope,” he said. “As a society, we need to smash down that stigma.”

The Pen Bryn Oer Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund is available to community organisations twice a year with £30,000 available in total. Further information including how to apply can be found here.

The Rhymney Valley Foodbank operates throughout the week and can be found at Hafod Deg Community Centre, Rhymney on Tuesdays, on Wednesdays at St Peter’s Church in Aberbargoed and on Thursdays at the White Rose Centre, New Tredegar.

The foodbank is open between 11am and 1pm on each of these days.