A charity marked National Foodbank Day by sharing messages from people explaining the hardship they face.

The Medway Foodbank is part of the Trussell Trust network which has distributed more than 3.1 million emergency food parcels in the past year.

An event held at the charity’s warehouse last Friday (September 6) was attended by more than 40 guests.

This included the Mayor and Mayoress of Medway, Council leader Vince Maple, Rochester and Strood MP Lauren Edwards (Lab) as well as representatives from the Conservatives, Lib Dems and Greens and the Medway VCS sector.

Inside, guests were able to see hundreds of messages gathered on tablecloths from people explaining the hardship they experience and their hopes for the future.

Trussell Trust Network has distributed the most ever food parcels in the past 12 months and nearly double compared to five years ago.

As part of the event, Medway Foodbank urged guests to support the network’s Guarantee Our Essentials campaign which calls for Universal Credit to include an Essentials Guarantee.

The charity says this is needed because there is shortfall between people’s living costs and their income which means they can’t always cover the essentials like food, utilities, clothing and transport.

Mike Evans, of Medway Foodbank, said: “We want to say a big thank you to all those who joined us for national Foodbank Day to hear about our work and view our tablecloth messages.

“We hope to work closely with our elected representatives to advance the objectives of Trussell Trust’s Essentials Guarantee Campaign and move towards a society without a need for foodbanks.

“A UK without the need for foodbanks is the vision Medway Foodbank shares with Trussell Trust.”

In November, the messages of hardship will be taken to Westminster by Trussell Trust to highlight the “moral scar” of rising foodbank use and urge the government to introduce an Essentials Guarantee.

Mike added: “If everyone has enough income to cover the essentials of life, we hope that fewer people will be in destitution and the need for foodbanks will eventually come to an end.”