An elderly man turned up at his local breakfast club after he hadn't eaten for four days as the cost of living crisis continues to grip the country.
Donna Scully, who volunteers at the Charles Thompson Mission in Wirral, said the man came in when he couldn't make ends meet.
The lawyer wrote on Twitter : "Oh god it’s getting so bad. At breakfast club there were more people with accommodation than homeless, but who can’t eat and pay energy bills."
She added: "Very thin elderly man this morning hadn’t eaten for FOUR days. In the UK in 2022.
"We gave him cereal, two breakfasts & food to takeaway. He can’t make ends meet."
Donna's tweet has since gone viral, with many thousands of retweets and shares.
Many responded with horror and outrage.
One Twitter user said: "Words fail to express the sheer despair of living in the 5th richest country and this is still happening."
Another added: "Hunger is stalking UK households and will get worse over the next year."
Another user labelled it a 'national scandal and disgrace', adding: "Dickensian levels of grinding poverty and injustice. I remember reading A Christmas Carol and Oliver Twist as a kid and finding it hard to fathom how it was ever like that, and yet here we are."
Others feared that this is happening in the height of summer, predicting things could get much worse as we head into autumn and winter with another huge rise in energy prices set to arrive in October.
Responding to others on Twitter, Donna added: "Honestly it’s gut-wrenching. We only skim the top but at least for today they’re fed & have food for a good few days.
"We have fun despite everything. A short respite for them."
It comes after we reported how a mum who cannot afford to heat her home because of the cost of living crisis says she spends her days in shopping centres to keep warm.
Desperate Margaret Morris has not switched on the heating in her home in four years because of her high bills.
The 51-year-old shares her home with her 21-year-old son Scott but uses a payment metre and claims heating can cost up to £10 for a couple of hours, reports the Daily Record
Margaret said: “I basically cannot afford to heat my home. I have gas central heating and it just eats up the money.
“If I want to get some heat, I go to my mum’s or walk about the shopping centres.
“There are many others in the same situation, but they are never going to admit it.
“People I know are avoiding going home because they don’t have any heating.
“There should be places people can go where they can get out of the cold and get a bit of warmth.”
