Christmas is fast approaching, a time to banish the dark and the cold, to see family, to be merry and to extend peace and goodwill to all.

This week reporter Sam Turton met Neal Mellon at the Isle of Man Food Bank to learn more about the work the charity does and how much demand will increase in the next couple of weeks for those who just need a little bit of extra support.

Mr Mellon said in the coming days and weeks, he expects the charity to support more than 100 households and that he expects the number of people coming for short term assistance to go up in that time.

He added that the reasons for this can vary but can include people spending more than they can perhaps afford, low wages and people who might not have budgeted for Christmas.

As part of its efforts to support people at Christmas, the Foodbank is currently running its annual reverse advent calendar campaign.

Instead of opening a window and having some chocolate, the idea is for people to put an item in a box for each day and then deliver the box to a drop off point (listed at the end of this article) by December 16.

Items the Foodbank needs for Christmas include tinned meats and vegetables, coffee jars or fruit juices, stuffing mix, tinned custard, Christmas puddings and treats for children.

Meats and other perishables are being donated by companies and supermarkets including Andreas Meat Company and Marks & Spencer.

Alongside this, the Foodbank recently ran its annual collection weekend in Tesco where Manx residents donated 260 crates of food as well as stacks of toilet paper and other toiletries such as nappies.

Mr Mellon said: ’ We wouldn’t survive as a charity without the support of the public, organisations and businesses throughout the year.

’The food from the crates will help throughout the year and supplement the increased needs at Christmas.

’People respond to calls for help throughout the year, but especially during school holidays.’

As well as providing food support, the Foodbank also points people in the direction of the help available for those living in fuel poverty who have to make the choice between heating and eating.

And, during the summer, it provided support for children by providing new bags and stationery for those whose parents couldn’t afford them going back to school.

The Foodbank has been operating since 2013 and Mr Mellon said that this year has seen demand from families continue to grow, despite a pledge by Chief Minister Howard Quayle in the summer that ’no child should be hungry on this island’.

Mr Mellon said that the Foodbank would, by the end of the year, delivered roughly 2,500 food parcels in 12 months, which he said was a significant rise from last year, had revealed a hidden problem in the island.

He added: The Foodbank has made it easier to identify who needs help and what sort of help they need.’

And he explained that most people the Foodbank sees are those with ’nothing to fall back on’ and for who events may have spiralled.

Mr Mellon also said that the lack of Manx definition of poverty hasn’t helped the situation of improving people’s lives.

Confirmation of growth in demand at the Foodbank comes as Tynwald should be looking at a clear definition of poverty.

Over 18 months ago, in April 2018, Tynwald appointed a committee, chaired by Speaker Juan Watterson, to explore the issue of poverty, part of which was to establish a definition.

As there currently is no definition, the select committee’s report said it ’makes it impossible to ascertain the success of Government policies in the context of this section of society’.

During the committee’s evidence gathering sessions, Mr Mellon spoke and told them that the Foodbank has a flexible approach to poverty,

He added: ’I do have my own personal views on poverty.

’I believe that poverty exists when the total income for an individual, a couple or a family generates a dilemma in choosing which essential basic need to prioritise over another and which to ration or do without, which might result in physical, emotional or mental harm or generate charges of neglect.

’So situations such as "do I heat or do I eat?" and that is a mantra that comes up regularly in the Foodbank.’

Michael Manning at Graih, a charity which supports homeless people, gave a similar such definition when he spoke to the committee.

The committee has recommended to the Council of Ministers that the island should adopt the Social Metrics Commission’s new measure of poverty for the UK for the purpose of measuring the extent of poverty in the Isle of Man.

The SMC’s new measure is outlined as:

â?¢ Takes account of all material resources, not just incomes. For instance, this means including an assessment of the available assets that families have;

â?¢ Accounts for the inescapable costs that some families face, which make them more likely than others to experience poverty. These include, the extra costs of disability, and costs of child care and rental and mortgage costs;

â?¢ Broadens the approach of poverty measurement to include an assessment of housing adequacy. For example, by regarding those sleeping rough as being in poverty; and

â?¢ Positions the measure of poverty within a wider measurement framework, which allows us to understand more about the nature of poverty in the UK.

However, this has not led to a clear definition being in place as CoMin has recommended an amendment to this, saying that the ’Council of Ministers is committing to have developed measures of poverty by December 2020’.

While Mr Mellon and the Foodbank’s volunteers are working hard this year, he said they are always looking for more volunteers in admin roles, people to make up food parcels and stack shelves or to collect from drop off points around the island.

Anyone wanting more information on volunteering can contact the Foodbank on 646999 or [email protected].

Collection points around the island include:

â?¢ Local authority offices around the island

â?¢ Police head quarters

â?¢ Noa Bakehouse

â?¢ Laxey and Peel methodist churches

â?¢ Henry Bloom Noble library in Douglas

And many other places around the island.