SOARING numbers of hungry adults and children have been turning to a Kendal 'lifeline' charity to guarantee their next meal.

The King's Food Bank, based at the Shakespeare Centre, has provided 6,909 meals so far this year and received 387 referrals - an increase of 40 per cent on last year.

And with an expectation that demand will continue to rise and stock will decrease as children break up for the summer holidays, The Westmorland Gazette has launched its Support The Food Banks campaign to encourage donations to the county's centres.

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Food bank manager Linda Sutherland told the Gazette that with the holidays 'imminent' and children missing out on school dinners, donations were particularly necessary.

"In school holidays we often see a peak," she said. "Purely because children aren't at school and mums and dads have to feed them."

She said that the food bank would especially like to receive donations of breakfast cereals, UHT milk, tins of meat and meat in sauce and tins of fruit and custard.

"We had a referral the other day for a single parent with five children," Mrs Sutherland said.

She said that some parents will go without food in order to feed their children. "Your heart goes out to them and you think: 'What would they do if we weren't here to help them out?' It really must be heart-wrenching for the parent."

May was one of the centre's busiest ever months, with 92 referrals and 1,575 non-perishable meals delivered.

Mrs Sutherland believes that the rise in referrals can be partly explained by changes to the state benefits system, which could lead to people having a six-week break between payments.

"Sixty-two per cent of the referrals we received in May were all benefit related," she said. "We've got quite a range of reasons but the majority are benefit related in some form or another."

Referrals come from a number of agencies including the Adult Social Services, Age UK, Impact Foyer and South Lakes Housing.

Other reasons for referral in May included a lack of income, statutory sick pay, debt, addiction, relationships, social services referrals and health problems. Mrs Sutherland said it could be something as simple as an unexpected bill that pushes people over the tipping point.

Alongside the Kendal food bank, which also has a satellite station in Ambleside, there are three Trussell Trust run centres in Cumbria. They can be found in Windermere, Cockermouth and Barrow.

Figures from the Trussell Trust show that 13,485 people in Cumbria received emergency food supplies between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017.

This number has increased since last year, when 13,164 people in the county received the three day emergency packages.

And just across the county border, there has been an increase in referrals to Morecambe Bay Foodbank. During 2016-17 it handed out 3,841 three day supplies, compared to 3,250 in 2015-16.

The top three reasons for referral at the Morecambe location were benefit delays, benefit changes and low income.

Windermere and District Foodbank project manager Magda Khan said that although she had not noticed an increase in the number of people visiting her branch, she saw people with 'unsolvable' problems.

She said that one man who was using the service was struggling to secure accommodation and died in March after a particularly cold spell.

"We can only feed them and keep people like him warm for the time we are here and open," she said.

Peter Harrison, head teacher of St Cuthbert's Catholic Primary School in Windermere, said the school regularly donates to the Windermere centre.

"What people see is the tourist industry," he said. "They see the nice row of houses in Windermere - but you do not need to stray far beyond that veneer to see families in crisis."

He said that although free school meals did help and he had not heard of any of his own pupils needing to use food banks, they had on occasion given support to children going without breakfast.

Mrs Sutherland admitted that before she began volunteering for the charity, she was completely unaware of the scale of poverty in the area.

"Before I volunteered here I actually had no idea," she said. "I used to think that Kendal was an affluent area, the Lakes was quite an affluent area and there wouldn't be a problem - but obviously that isn't the case.

"I honestly do not know what people would do if we were not here. It's a question that hangs in the air - what would the parents do if we were not here? The children would go hungry."

There are approximately a dozen volunteers that work in the food bank stock room and a volunteer waiting list. Mrs Sutherland said she is 'grateful' for their work and the support that the centre receives.

Collection points for the King's Food Bank are located at The Westmorland Gazette offices, Asda and Booths in Kendal; Wilf's cafe in Staveley; The Wheatsheaf Inn, Brigsteer; County Offices in Kendal, South Lakeland House, Kendal; NatWest, Kendal. Most churches will also accept donations.

Cheques can also be posted to King's Food Bank at its Shakespeare Centre base in Kendal or money can be donated by standing order. For more, visit www.kingsfoodbank.org.uk