(Please note: We’ve changed the name of the family in this article to protect their identity)
Everything was going well for Pete and his family. Having relocated to Bude at the age of 21 from Looe, Pete enjoyed all the many things the town offers. He told us “We just love it here. We love the people, love the area and it’s a great place to bring up your kids. Crime is low and we’re so close to the beach and the schools are lovely. Teachers are brilliant at Budehaven and work so hard to keep the kids safe. I help out with the beach clean gang and we just love the place and feel such a part of it!”
Things took a turn for the worse in 2015 when Pete got made redundant, losing his job as a Rep Area Supermarket Manager, covering the South West. He said “I was on really good money and we’ve never claimed a penny or had help from anyone. When I lost my job things got really hard and the money ran out. The School Liaison Officer at Budehaven School advised me to call the Foodbank. I was mortified to have to do it as we’ve always been completely self-sufficient and we felt so low in having to contact them.”
“Without the help of the Foodbank we don’t know what we would have done. We have a big family and we were on the edge of needing to skip meals to allow the children to eat.
My wife is disabled and since being made redundant, I’ve picked up a heart problem and other conditions. The last 5 years have been a nightmare and we don’t know what we would have done without the food bank.
Sue rings us up and says ‘we’ve got some food for you, come on down’, we can’t believe it, the food parcels are really big and help to keep us going.
My health issues came about after the stress of losing my job. I ended up in hospital with a lot of issues. We’ve continued to be supported though by the Foodbank and get a food parcel every week. It’s amazing. There’s cottage pies, pasta bake, bread, eggs, tins of soup and the kids love it. We also get Christmas presents which is so helpful as we simply don’t have the money to spend on nice presents. We’ve always treated the kids as adults and if we say we can’t afford something, they don’t whinge about it. We just have to try and manage. The Foodbank has been an absolute God send for us – I can’t imagine how we would have coped without it.”
Original Post Date: June 12th 2020
