Over 2000 emergency food supplies were handed out to Children in the Caerphilly County Borough last year according to food bank charity The Trussell Trust.
The charity, which runs a network of over 400 foodbanks in the UK, published the data as it called for an increase in donations from the public.
It says it expects food bank demand to increase over the school summer holidays as parents who rely on free school meals are forced to turn to other means.
In the Caerphilly County Borough, 5,626 emergency food packages were handed out last year, 2,091 of which went to children.
A report last year from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Hunger estimated the loss of free school meals during school holidays adds £30 to £40 a week to parents’ outgoings for one child.
These new figures have prompted The Trussell Trust to ask the public to check with their local food bank what donations are most needed in their local area this summer.
Samantha Stapley, Director of Operations at The Trussell Trust, said: “Food banks cannot, and must not, be a long term to solution to hunger at any time of year.
“Nobody in Wales should face going hungry, and although our network will be doing all they can this summer to help struggling families, no charity can replace people having enough money for the basics.”
Jeremy Steele, who manages the food bank at the Oasis Christian Centre in Blackwood, said: “Demand is on the increase with the summer holidays seeing an end to free school meals. Without food banks we would be in trouble.
“The support from the community has been great up until now, but we also realise we have to keep up with demand.”
In October 2017, MP for Caerphilly, Wayne David, publicly called for the roll out of Universal Credit to be halted due to the overwhelming evidence of the difficulties this was causing to so many people.
Mr David said: “The increased reliance of people across the UK is a national scandal, and one that I have been condemning, along with colleague Labour MPs, for a long time.
“It is regrettably inevitable that the roll out of Universal Credit in Caerphilly, coming in to effect next month, will exacerbate this problem locally.”
Leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council, Cllr Dave Poole, said: “No community should be in this position – but it is largely thanks to the support and goodwill of members of the public, voluntary and third sector groups and the faith community that food banks are able to replenish their stocks and provide vital support to families in need.
“We’ll continue to play our part, alongside our partners, in addressing and mitigating the impacts of poverty in our county borough.”
Staff at Caerphilly County Borough Council will hold a council-wide food collection this month to support food banks in the county borough.
More self promotion from the number one food bank franchise The Trussell Trust, who’s annual income is £7m per year and salary of their CEO an eye watering £80K. Yes there is always somebody profiting off someone’s misery, and it’s been reported that they charge £1500 for somebody to set up one of their franchises.
This issue is something that the Communities First project should have tackled but they failed woefully, over £300 million pounds was wasted on a project that was set up to help the poorest communities in Wales, £300 million could have brought an awful lot of food for an awful long time – but instead Communities First frittered the cash away on shiny new offices and huge salaries.
Nice to see someone telling us what everyone else is thinking. I didnt realise the profited so much