Neal Mellon, founder of the Isle of Man Food Bank, says the charity has seen a continuing trend of new clients asking for help amidst the cost of living crisis.

He also said that he was surprised that Chief Minister Alfred Cannan’s new administration had not yet extended an invitation to meet with third-sector organsations like the food bank, in order to co-ordinate a response to the crisis.

Mr Mellon explained that the trend of new clients had began at the start of the year after a typically quiet post-Christmas period.

‘We’ve been predicting this problem for quite a while, it’s a problem that we’re all going to have to live with and it’s down to the third sector and government to look at working together to come up with practical answers to some of the problems that people are facing,’ he said.

‘Some of those answers could be easily achieved. We’ve shown over the last few years the difference that having a slow cooker makes to peoples’ electricity bills.’

The food bank now supplies slow cookers to some clients who are able to make use of them.

Mr Mellon added: ‘And over the last few years we’ve been supplying heated throws [blankets] to our clients who need it, and that makes a massive difference to their heating costs.’

Asked if he feels that people are getting enough assistance from the government during this crisis, Mr Mellon said: ‘I think it’s still a shame that we haven’t had a meeting between government and third sector, since this [new] government came into existence.

‘And hopefully that will be addressed soon.

meals

‘Having said that I think the recent news about support during the Easter holidays in lieu of school meals is an absolutely excellent approach for government to take.’

Last week Tynwald unanimously passed legislation to allow children who receive free school meals to continue to do so over the Easter holidays.

Mr Mellon said the food bank had been ‘really fortunate’ in the support it had received from the public, businesses and organisations in the last two years, and ‘that is allowing us to carry on with confidence in supplying the food, the skills and the knowledge that people need to get through this’.

Asked if there were any particular items which they could use donated, Mr Mellon said that ‘we are always in need of long-life milk’, in addition to easy-cook meals, and canned meat.

Mr Mellon said the charity had been hearing stories from clients who talked about having been able to manage up until now, but now their savings are depleted by lockdowns and rising prices, they find themselves not knowing what to do.

He explained: ‘We are seeing people who are normally in employment, who normally have all their bills paid by standing order - they are hitting a crisis and before they get through to the food bank, have already started that process of either letting a few bills slip or borrowing.

‘And then they get stuck when their savings go.’