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As jobless total rises six-fold in Okehampton, the Trussell Trust food charity distributes handouts to more than 200 people A charity set up to send food parcels to needy people in eastern Europe is helping to feed residents of a Devon town where unemployment has shot up six-fold. The number of people receiving handouts of essential foods – such as cereal and tinned goods – from the Trussell Trust has risen from 20 people a week to more than 200 after jobs were lost at three major employers in Okehampton. Okehampton town councillor Kay Bickley, who helps run the food bank, said: “There has been a huge rise in people needing short-term help. The people of Okehampton have pride and want to work, but circumstances have led a lot of families into a devastating situation, which we are trying to help with. “It can take a while to sort out benefits you are entitled to, so in the meantime they are forced to live on handouts. It is a shock to find ourselves living in such a situation.” Across the UK, the Trussell Trust has helped 60,000 people in the last financial year, compared with 41,000 during the previous 12-month period. Most of its food banks are in cities but the trust is seeing an increase in the need for its aid in the countryside. In Okehampton, jobs have been shed at three of the town’s employers, including a dairy company and factories making chocolate and desserts. Unemployment has leapt from under 2% to almost 12%. Councillor Mike Davies, who also works at the food bank, said: “For many people in this town at the moment there is simply no money coming in. How are they going to pay the rent or the mortgage? How are they going to live? There is a mood of genuine fear in the town at the moment.” The charity relies on donations and distributes non-perishable goods. Each foodbox contains a minimum of three days’ nutritionally balanced food. Volunteers work from a headquarters at an outdoor shop in the town by Dartmoor and ferry goods to needy families in the area. Andrew Morgan, who also helps at the food bank, added: “We are still appealing for food. It is desperately needed: some staff made redundant hadn’t been paid for weeks. There really are people with no money and they really can’t put food on the table.” Husband and wife Mary and Nick Wonnacott, of Okehampton, both worked for dessert manufacturers PoleStar Foods for more than 15 years before losing their jobs last month. They described the food bank as a godsend without which they could not have managed. Mary Wonnacott said: “We’ve had four weeks where we’ve had to manage with no income at all, so this has been a wonderful boon for us.” The Trussell Trust opened its first foodbank in the UK in 2004 and now has 90 operating in the UK. Unemployment Charities Voluntary sector Steven Morris guardian.co.uk