East Kilbride food bank boss insists 'no government is going to help us' as Loaves and Fishes prepare 900 Christmas parcels

dailyrecord.co.uk:

As Scots families living on both sides of the breadline struggle to survive the cost of living crisis, a food bank boss has called on communities to look after each other this Christmas - insisting help is 'never coming' from those in power.This Christmas Loaves and Fishes will be dishing out 890 emergency food parcels to needy families in East Kilbride where the charity is based.

This includes festive gifts for 400 children who would otherwise have nothing to open on Christmas morning.These staggering numbers have rocketed from last year, which saw the food bank feed a total of 640 people, 190 families and more than 300 children.Outside of the festive season, on average the Singer Road-based charity dish out 250 parcels per week.Loaves and Fishes chairwoman Lesley Davidson told Lanarkshire Live: "I feel like I say this every year but we have never seen anything like this."I've got over 120 elderly people in their seventies registered on our books for Christmas.

And in one week, a month or so ago, we registered a 16-year-old girl and a 94-year-old woman. What is happening in the world?

If we don't give these kids Christmas, they're not getting it. We're under so much more pressure than we've ever been."For more than 30 years former Loaves and Fishes chair Denis Curran MBE and his late wife Cathie Curran dedicated their lives to helping the hungry and homeless in and around East Kilbride.They helped countless families in East Kilbride and Glasgow, changing lives for the better and providing a glimmer of hope to those in despair.The Lanarkshire Live app is available to download now.