UK embarks on biggest charity food drive since WWII

Britain has embarked on its biggest charity food drive since the Second World War, with the aim to feed poor families over the Christmas season.

The effort to collect thousands of tons of groceries for families involves the British Red Cross, the Neighborhood Food Collection set up by the Trussell Trust food bank network, the food aid distribution charity Fare Share and TESCO — a British multinational grocery and general merchandise retailer, The Guardian reported on Friday.

According to charities, the food drive is a response to rising food poverty in Britain. “The deeply distressing reality for Britain this Christmas is that thousands of families will struggle to put food on the table,” said Trussell Trust chief executive Chris Mould. “We’re already meeting parents who are choosing between eating and heating, and rising fuel prices mean that this winter is looking bleak for people on the breadline.”

Benefit delays, low pay, rising living costs, and the so-called bedroom tax are blamed for a tripling in food bank use in the UK.

Charities say about 60,000 people are likely to receive emergency food in two weeks time, including Trussell Trust children.

According to international aid agency Oxfam, as many as 25 million more people in Europe are at the risk of falling into poverty trap by the next 12 years if European states push on with austerity measures.

The long-drawn-out eurozone debt crisis, which began in Greece in late 2009 and later on reached Italy, Spain, France , Portugal, Britain and Ireland, is viewed as a threat not only to Europe but also to many of the world’s other developed economies.