It's a sunny morning in Birkenhead and John is eating for the first time in several days. He recently came out of hospital after suffering a double heart attack.
John has come to the Sunday morning breakfast club held at Charles Thompson's Mission support centre in the Wirral town. It's the only way he can get a meal, the cupboards of his nearby flat are completely empty and he has no money to his name.
As he gratefully tucks into a bacon and egg breakfast, the 58-year-old said: "I wouldn't have been able to eat without this place. I came out of hospital with no food at all and no money to buy any, I can't put the gas on."
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John has spent time on the streets before, but he has held down his flat for a long time now, despite his health issues. He is terrified of the months ahead and believes the pressure of the rocketing energy bills contributed to his recent heart attacks.
He added: "I'm really worried about the winter, all I've got to get me through is a little electric heater. Something will have to go and it will be the heating, if I want to be able to eat. It's not good when I'm already not well, I'm on blood thinning tablets after the heart attacks, I'm frightened about what will happen.
"I've been on the streets before but not for a long time, it would be a nightmare if I lost my flat because I can't afford to keep it. I'm worried that I would get sucked back into that life."
Sitting at a table next to John is 55-year-old Gerard, he explains between bites of toast that he has a pregnant partner waiting for him at home, "she gave me a list of things she needs from the shops, but I haven't got a penny to my name," he says, adding: "I've been showering at the gym because my gas has been turned off because we can't pay the bills."
57-year-old Dan is another to visit the breakfast club or as it's known locally the 'no more lonely people club'. Before today he hadn't eaten in two days.
His last food was a sandwich he was forced to steal, he admits: "I went in and looked at the prices, I couldn't afford to buy anything. But I was so hungry so I had to do it."
The Sunday breakfast club at the mission building is run by volunteers from the Wirral-based Carpenters law firm alongside the Fans Supporting Foodbanks project, which organises foodbank collections outside football grounds in Merseyside and beyond. The kitchen is a hive of activity as the volunteers work tirelessly to cook up breakfasts and get them out to the growing number of very hungry guests.
Many of those coming for their breakfast are people who have spent time on the streets or have dealt with addiction issues, some have had spells in prison. Others have fallen on hard times more recently and have had to turn to the generosity of strangers for their only hope of a hot meal. Volunteer Donna Scully says she can immediately spot the difference in the stories of those coming through the door.
She said: "When we opened initially, we were mainly aiming at homeless people, people with addictions and those with chaotic cycles of hostels and needing help. But what we are seeing this year is more people who have got homes, who are not in the system, but who can't afford to get by.
"You see the regulars come running in when we open, then you see others who are stood at the door, quieter and not sure what to do, feeling a bit ashamed, they don't want anyone to know they are here, we are seeing more and more people like that."
As well as a hot breakfast and a friendly conversation or two, those coming on a Sunday are handed a bag of food to take away with them, but these bags have been getting bigger of late. Donna adds: "We are having to find more basics and bigger bags to give to people and we're having to give them food that doesn't require cooking because they can't afford to cook. The prices have gone up and people can't afford food. We're all scared of what will come next, many of these people are very fragile, they are not robust."
On a nearby table, chatting over a hot cup of tea is a man some people may recognise. Peter Mickle is well known for his unique busking performances in central Liverpool. Today he is just grateful for some food and a chat.
The 63-year-old lives in a single bedroom flat in Birkenhead, he says the mission and the breakfast club is now a 'lifeline', adding: "My rent has gone up and the prices of everything have gone up, I'm busking and doing the best I can but it's not enough. I would struggle to eat sometimes without this place."
Also volunteering at today's breakfast club is Dave Kelly, one of the founders of the Fans Supporting Foodbanks project. As well as helping out here and collecting food at football matches, Dave and his team run food pantries across the city for people struggling to afford to buy food in shops. Over the past 12 months these pantries have fed 73,000 people in Merseyside.
Dave explained: "That number is rising quickly and the demographic of people coming to our pantries has changed dramatically. Previously it was predominantly people on benefits, then it was people who had been furloughed. The vast majority we are seeing now are working people.
"It's a sad sight to see queues gathering an hour or so before our pantries open and the queues getting bigger and bigger week on week. We are speaking to people who are saying they've never been out of work in their life, who have never been on benefits in their life, but who are struggling to get by."
Dave paints a stark image of the current crisis, explaining that people have been approaching the now recognisable Fans Supporting Foodbanks truck while it has been stopped at traffic lights, begging for a bag of food.
The cold winter months, ever-increasing inflation and the looming prospect of even more enormous energy bills arriving in October are all making Dave and his team extremely worried about the latter part of the year. The cost of living is now hitting those who usually donate the food that helps those who have fallen into crisis.
He explains: "It doesn't bear thinking about what winter will bring. We are living for today as it is, hand to mouth, it's only the generosity of people across this region that enables us to do what we do. Everything we've done is through donations. But it's a worry. The last three football matches that we've done collections at, you can see people who would previously have given a few bags of food now turning up with one, the donors are now feeling the pinch."
This is an issue now being felt at foodbanks and pantries across Merseyside. Naomi Maynard is the good food programme director at Feeding Liverpool and works to link people up with food help across Liverpool. She says stocks are running low.
"What we are hearing is that demand is up, particularly at the food banks. For example at Micah Liverpool, the central Liverpool foodbank, they used to see about 250 households per week, its now about 350." Naomi explains, adding: "This is a significant jump in demand at a time when supply is down, that's the real pinch point now.
"When we entered the pandemic there was an outpouring of donations to foodbanks. Currently, middle income households are all getting squeezed as well, so charity and giving is something people may have to cut back on. Financial donations are down but so are food donations at supermarkets and elsewhere.
She added: "Foodbanks are having to cut back on the size of the food parcels that they are handing out. They want everyone to be able to take something home, but its getting harder. At times they are having to close their doors to people because the food has just ran out, that's very worrying. What we are particularly concerned about is not just the situation now, but what is coming in the autumn when the energy prices go up again, we will see demand increasing further and donations not being able to match that in a way they did previously."
Like former Prime Minister Gordon Brown said earlier this week and others, Naomi is calling for an emergency budget to be put together as soon as possible, including an urgent move to increase benefits for those who really need help. She adds: "If you are going to change benefits, such as bringing back in the £20 Universal Credit uplift, that takes time to be administered and to filter through, but we know from experience that those kind of cash-first methods do work in terms of the people we see at our foodbanks, we need to get cash in people's pockets very quickly."
Over at St Andrew's Church in the Clubmoor area of north Liverpool, there is a queue of people at the church door at 9am on a Wednesday morning. They are patiently waiting for the morning food pantry, run by the St Andrew's Community Network, to open up.
At a food pantry like this one, people who are struggling with costs can pay a few pounds to get a decent amount of fresh and tinned food. Pantries are a weekly support network aimed at offering a longer term approach to food insecurity than the emergency offering of foodbanks. The pantries also aim to reduce some of the stigma that some people feel when they fall on hard times.
That more positive atmosphere is palpable inside the grand church setting, as people chat and have a cup of tea while they wait for their turn to take a ticket and head up and collect their food items. But beneath the warm conversations and the friendly faces lie real worries.
Pat Bacon is a volunteer and member at the pantry, which for the first time ever has a waiting list of people hoping to join. She also helps out at the adjoining foodbank, which is seeing soaring demand.
She said: "There are lots of people here who are really struggling to make ends meet, including lots of people who are working all the time. We're really worried about what's to come. The other day at the foodbank in just two hours we fed 47 people, that is the kind of number we would expect at Christmas, not on a normal day in August."
Sitting nearby to Pat is 18-year-old Lauryce Spearitt, she is at the pantry today with her six month-old son Elijah. Lauryce was originally a volunteer at the pantry but with prices rising and life getting more difficult, she is now a member and is here to get food for her and her baby.
She said: "The price of everything has gone up. This place helps so much, it just takes that little bit of pressure off. I don't think I would be coping very well without it.
"It feels more like a community shop than a foodbank, that takes pressure off too - it makes it easier to walk through the door." She adds: "The electricity is the one I'm worried about, I think we will be coming here through the winter. I am worried."
Lauryce's mum Kalli is the driving force behind this pantry and was key in getting it set up as the pandemic hit. She says it has become a lifeline to so many in the local community - including her own family.
Kalli said: "My daughter is a single mum, living with her first child. I find myself now sat at home rationing what money I have and what I can give to her to help her get by. I don't want my daughter and my grandson going cold or hungry, I am very, very worried about what is coming."
She is proud of what the pantry she helped to set up is now offering people, but she knows it is filling a widening chasm created by a lack of government support.
She adds: "Our government is failing people in so many ways and this is one small thing we feel we can do. We can help people get food and we can make sure the church is nice and warm - I think during the winter there will sadly be lots of people just coming here to stay warm.
"I think are going to need communities to come together more than ever."
You can donate to Fans Supporting Foodbanks and the St Andrew's Community Network here
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