Julia and Hans Rausing have pledged £3.5 million to the Trussell Trust’s emergency appeal to support its network of 1,300 foodbanks in what is expected to be a particularly difficult winter.
The Trussell Trust is expecting to provide 1.3 million emergency food parcels in the next six months, including an estimated half a million for children.
This is the first donation in a series to be made by Julia and Hans Rausing in the coming weeks, which will support people who are experiencing food poverty this winter.
It is estimated that in April 2022, 9.9 million people were in food poverty, with that number expected to rise with food inflation hitting 14.1% this month.
The £3.5 million donation will be focused on providing direct support to foodbanks and will help the Trussell Trust via:
- Fund direct grants to foodbanks to cover their increased running costs for food, facilities and frontline staff.
- Direct financial support and advice to more than 100,000 people via the charity’s Help through Hardship helpline, run in partnership with Citizens Advice
- Additional support to food banks to help navigate the crisis including access to regional and national expertise to ensure they can continue to serve their community through this ever-changing external environment
Julia and Hans Rausing are cornerstone donors to this appeal, alongside Tesco and Ovo. The Trussell Trust hope that other philanthropists, businesses and individuals will also support their emergency appeal, so they are able to meet the demand they are expecting to see for foodbanks this winter.
Julia and Hans Rausing said “The Trussell Trust and its network of foodbanks are relied upon by many thousands of people which is why we are supporting this important organisation once again.
“We hope others will also give generously to this emergency appeal in what is clearly an escalating food poverty crisis.”
Emma Revie, CEO of the Trussell Trust said: “Through this emergency appeal we hope to raise the vital funds required to ensure that food banks can meet this devastating rise in need and continue to support people who are experiencing hardship. We never wanted to run an appeal like this, we would rather there was no need for food banks at all. But right now they are on the frontline of this cost of living emergency, we have no other option.”
There will be a further announcement about the support Julia and Hans are giving to target food poverty this winter in due course.
