Northern Ireland

West Belfast's women's group sees demand for food service double

Isobel Loughran, CEO of Footprints Women Centre in Poleglass, distributes food parcels with her team. Picture by Hugh Russell
Isobel Loughran, CEO of Footprints Women Centre in Poleglass, distributes food parcels with her team. Picture by Hugh Russell Isobel Loughran, CEO of Footprints Women Centre in Poleglass, distributes food parcels with her team. Picture by Hugh Russell

A west Belfast women's group has told how need for its food support service has doubled amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Isobel Loughran of Footprints Women's Centre in Poleglass said it would "try its best" to keep up with demand in the Colin area despite having only a limited number of staff.

Around 250 families were already members of the centre's food support service but need for the facility has doubled in the past week.

One of the centre's projects, a social supermarket - the first to open in Northern Ireland - is now closed due to Covid-19 restrictions so in a bid to help those affected and many others, staff have been making up food parcels.

On its first distribution day yesterday, the Footprints team gave out 50 parcels from 12pm to 2pm.

Isobel said she hoped they could keep up the weekly service although there are fears that deliveries to the social supermarket might stop.

However, she praised her funders for being "flexible" and "supportive", allowing them to re-allocate money for centre activities into the food service.

She also revealed that donations to the centre included £2,500 from Celtic Football Club.

As well as receiving food, where there are young children in a household Footprints includes nappies and wipes from its `Baby Bank'.

Isobel said staff are also live-streaming activities for families as a replacement for the centre's usual programmes and parents are able to private message its Facebook page with any issues.

"The last couple of weeks have forced us to respond," she said.

"We are able to give these packs to anyone in need. This is our very first attempt and we will try our best to meet the needs. We want to make sure we are able to keep up."

The chief executive said many of those in need of food parcels had been directly affected by the coronavirus situation, including families with young children who are unable to leave their homes.

"People have been bulk buying and money is getting tighter," she said.

"We have also had an upsurge in people who have lost their jobs. We see the need only getting greater. It is heartbreaking seeing the families."