Cost of living: The Leeds food bank making every user feel valued

While nutrient banks assistance thousands of those struggling to marque ends meet, the goods fixed are not ever suitable for everyone owed to spiritual oregon taste reasons. BBC News visited 1 centre which is committed to making definite each container is close for the recipient.

A queue snakes extracurricular the doors of the Cultural Food Hub, arsenic bags afloat of ingredients similar rice, lentils and kidney beans are handed out.

Hana Agha manages this centre successful Leeds, wherever she says the fig of low-income families utilizing her work has precocious "skyrocketed".

"This clip past twelvemonth we served astir 70 radical a week. Now we're serving 170 - and it's inactive going up," she explains.

Hana's squad saw "culturally inappropriate" goods being distributed by nutrient banks during the Covid pandemic.

This included items immoderate religions can't accept, specified arsenic pork being fixed to Muslim and Jewish people.

"We've got monolithic divers communities - African, Caribbean, Middle Eastern, South Asian and Eastern European. You privation to marque them consciousness valued," she says.

So, this task by Give A Gift and Leeds City Council focuses connected serving suitable nutrient for those people.

Hana says she has been shocked by immoderate of the radical needing the centre's help.

"A section school's unit subordinate was referred to us. She was crying and said ne'er successful her beingness had she needed to usage a nutrient bank."

The nutrient hub coordinator says it's important to support her clients healthy, arsenic good arsenic fed, with a assortment of dishes this winter.

"It's truly rewarding to beryllium doing this, you spot the impact. Food is substance for your assemblage and you request a balanced fare to support your immune strategy up."

Shuheda Begum has been coming present for 2 weeks.

"I don't get thing for myself, I conscionable get things for the children," she says.

The 37-year-old azygous parent of 3 can't spend essentials aft her rent and bills went up.

"It's hard to survive, I'm truthful stressed," she tells me.

"My location is freezing and my tiny kid is wheezing. He ever gets a acold and a cough truthful I person to support him warm.

"But if I wage the bills, I person thing to bargain nutrient oregon apparel for the children. How are we going to manage?"

Shuheda gets vegetables, breadstuff and tinned goods from the nutrient hub. She often receives nutrient vouchers for shops too.

"We marque Asian nutrient similar chapati and rice. It's helping a batch and matters to america due to the fact that we're utilized to eating this nutrient since we were born, from our parents' heritage."

She besides gets ingredients from a children's centre, different it's "not enough" to support the household going.

She hopes things get better.

"We person to support affirmative and pray. I privation my kids to get a bully education, bully occupation and unrecorded a bully life."

Retired unpaid Janice Hargreaves packs astir 40 bags of nutrient each Monday.

"There are tomatoes, chickpea tins, lentils, kidney beans, rice, chapati flour, biscuits, and other small cakes," she lists.

"We've got kala chana (black chickpeas), which I'd ne'er heard of, but families emotion it," she adds.

Janice bundles antithetic ingredients unneurotic for Middle Eastern, South East Asian and African cultures.

"It's a staple fare of what they would bargain that would provender them for the week. For example, you tin marque a large cookware of daal that lasts rather a fewer days and enactment spices successful it," she says.

She opens the doors astatine midday and begins the process of handing retired the bluish bags of goods to radical successful the queue.

Some are registered connected her list, portion others person simply shown up successful request of exigency support.

"It's not conscionable radical connected benefits coming here. Pensioners, asylum seekers and refugees who aren't getting immoderate wealth request conscionable arsenic overmuch help," she explains.

It tin beryllium hard to marque speech with truthful galore languages, but Janice tries to recognize a small spot of Urdu.

"I've ne'er known radical queuing for nutrient similar this successful my lifetime," she says.

"I similar to deliberation if I needed it, idiosyncratic retired determination would assistance me."

If you've been affected by these issues, visit BBC Action Line for proposal and support.