More and more sick children are being taken to A&E with symptoms of scurvy, a food bank manager has claimed. Youngsters with signs of the condition, such as inflamed cheeks, have been seen queuing for donations with their parents for up to four hours.
As reported by MyLondon, Hope Yoloye who manages the Barnet Foodshare in Colindale, North London, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the situation is worsening for children as the cost of living crisis kicks in. The retired nurse, who has lived on Graham Park Estate for 31 years, said: "People are always waiting. It's just heartbreaking.
"When I get there at around 10am there are at least 30 people. By the time we have finished at 2pm at least 150 people have taken what they need. If someone is hungry and desperate they will do anything."
Scurvy is caused by a vitamin C deficiency and left untreated it can lead to exhaustion, bleeding, pain in the limbs and even tooth loss. Hope, 71, said: "Malnutrition is a cause of scurvy. [We saw cases] before but it's much more common now. We have to advise them to go to A&E or the doctors sometimes."
The Barnet Foodshare was first set up on Graham Park Estate 10 years ago. At first organisers would buy meat from Spitalfields market and fish from the London docklands and give it to north Londoners at a price they could afford.
Now the food bank collects surplus items from local shops and cooks meals for residents. The food bank itself has also been under threat recently as the rising cost of fuel has impacted volunteer drivers. But with the help of funding from the City of London Corporation's charity City Bridge Trust, it has enough money to stay open for two years.
Hope said: “The demand for the Foodshare service is phenomenal – it’s just mindblowing. Because of Covid, there are people that were already on a low income or no income who are really suffering.
"I’ve been using my car to collect food but I’m getting older and, for our volunteers, it's getting harder because the price of fuel keeps going up. Without this funding, we would have to stop and it would mean people would remain in food poverty.”
