BRAINTREE Area Foodbank has fed 2,000 people since opening its doors to the needy in April 2012.
By April this year, the foodbank had handed out 12 tonnes of nourishment to 1,500 people, through its three existing distribution centres at St Andrew's Church in Halstead, and the Baptist Church and Christ Church in Braintree, and has fed another 500 in the past couple of months.
In April the network opened a fourth distribution centre, in Witham, to respond to the growing demand for the meals it provides.
Alan Pinnell of the Braintree Area Foodbank, said: "It's hardly a cause for celebration, but it does mean we're meeting a real local need.
"We've seen numbers steadily increase since we opened in April last year and, with the welfare changes coming in, we expect to see even more as those start to bite.
"With 700 people in eight months last year, this year we've seen about 1,200 people already come through our doors."
The Trussell Trust, a Christian charity that helps those across the UK in poverty, warns the upcoming school summer holidays could now see a large number of children going hungry, as more than a quarter of parents suffering from some form of food poverty said they were unable to provide food for all the meals their children needed during the school holidays.
Chris Mould, chairman of the Trussell Trust, said: "Trussell Trust foodbanks have recently seen the biggest ever increase in numbers turning to us for emergency food, and foodbanks across the country need more support to cope with demand.
"We're meeting parents who've gone hungry for days in order to feed their children, and school holidays are always especially difficult with many budgets stretched to breaking point."
The warning comes as the biggest ever foodbank collection, at Tesco stores across the UK, was held last weekend. In December last year 2.4million meals were donated in a similar drive.
Braintree Area Foodbank was part of this drive, and held collections at three Tesco stores last weekend, with more than 4.5 tonnes of food donated – working out at around three days of supplies for 415 people.
Research carried out by foodbanks charities the Trussell Trust and FareShare over the last year found that 21 per cent of parents in the UK are struggling to feed their children.
According to the study, 15 per cent of people in the East of England are skipping meals to feed their family and rely on others for food.
