The devastating impact of Covid-19 on Carlisle’s most vulnerable families has been laid bare as new figures showed how hundreds now rely on free food.

One local volunteer-run group which is already feeding more than 300 children every week fears that the number of people in dire need is likely to increase.

Since March 23, when the Government declared a national lockdown, Carlisle Foodbank has helped more than 2,000 people in the city with more than 700 donated food parcels.

In April, demand for the Foodbank’s help shot up by 49 per cent while in May, demand rose by 25 per cent.

The issue of food poverty is also exposed by figures provided by the Carlisle Covid-19 Community Help Group.

Every week, its volunteers provide school lunch parcels to 310 children in the city, mostly in less affluent areas.

“It feels like children are the forgotten victims of the coronavirus crisis,” said mum-of-two Lisa Brown, 42, who helps run the group.

“I could be cynical and say that they can’t vote and so they’re not as high on the political agenda as other people. We know that the numbers [in need] will increase.”

She spoke of how when Carlisle Youth Zone volunteers, who deliver the parcels, handed over food to one mum, she burst into tears of relief. “She’d had a meltdown in the kitchen because she didn’t know what she could give her kids for lunch that day.

“We had a group meeting yesterday with the Youth Zone and [a member of staff from the County Council] to look for more funding to get us through the summer so we have the capacity to do double the numbers.

“We all think there’s going to be an increasing need; and holiday hunger is always a problem anyway.”

Asked how important the food parcels are to those receiving them, Lisa replied: “They’re massively important.” Many people – already just surviving financially – had been pushed over the edge by the sudden change in circumstances.

“They’ve been plunged into something they’ve never had to experience before. Nobody expected this public health crisis. We’ve had people who have cancelled their emergency food parcels and school lunch parcels and said thank you very much and they’ve gone back to work, so the crisis for them has stopped.

“But for other people it’s just starting.

“It’s almost like people have got this choice now between disease or hunger. They’re asking: what am I going to do? Do you risk catching the virus because you don’t want your kids or family to starve?

“There’s so much uncertainty with business. I don’t think there’s been a clearly planned out exit strategy. People are going to start losing their jobs. If you’d worked at Wetherspoons for 30 hours a week, that’s not going to be normal for a while.”

Since the crisis began, the group has delivered 1,300 food parcels – general emergency food and school lunches.

Rachel Rodway, from Carlisle Foodbank, said the group had handed out 1,059 parcels in April, and 718 in May. About a third of those parcels were for children.

Since lockdown started on March 23, the Foodbank has fed around 2,100 people. Of the demand surge in April, Rachel said: “It would be people who applied for Universal Credit at the end of March and had a five week wait [for money].”