The case in summary A penny roll has been started to save the food distribution “Community for food” in Moss, which is threatened with closure after the municipality cut its annual support of NOK 1.5 million. The food distribution, which is run by the Salvation Army, the Church’s City Mission and the Gospel Center, is an important arena for people with tight finances to get free food. Today, 800 households make use of the offer, and the food queue grows with around 50 new faces every month. “Community for food” receives tons of surplus food from large wholesalers, which helps fight food poverty and reduce food waste. Both business and private companies have contributed money to the project, including the Sparebank 1 foundation Østfold and Akershus, which has given NOK 1 million. Project manager Ine Lindberg in the Salvation Army hopes that the politicians will find an opportunity to support the project and will reconsider the measure when next year’s budget is to be considered and adopted in December. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAI. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. – It is of great help. The economy at home is not so good, says Juana Cofre. The pensioner uses the food distribution in Moss several times a month. – It is a great help, because the economy at home is not so good, says Juana Cofre. Photo: Even Bjørningsøy Johnsen / news In a closed grocery store, people with tight finances can fill their shopping basket with free food twice a month. Since the store opened last year, the queues have been long. They grow by around fifty new faces every month. Today, 800 households in Moss, Våler and Råde use this offer. – You get many dinners here. Today I will make something delicious with chicken, says Cofre. The store receives tons of surplus food from large wholesalers. Photo: Even Bjørningsøy Johnsen / news Food for 220 million The situation in Moss is far from unique. The expensive times of recent years have hit a broad section of the population hard. The food budget for an average family has increased by NOK 44,000 in three years, recent figures from SIFO show. The figures also show that healthy foods have increased the most in price. – We are experiencing increased demand, and we could distribute 50 per cent more food if we had more, says Silje-Maria Markussen, communications advisor at the Norwegian Food Centre. The queue outside Community for food testifies to the great need for food aid. Photo: Even Bjørningsøy Johnsen / news So far this year, the country’s eight food centers have distributed 4,289 tonnes of surplus food. This corresponds to approximately 7.5 million meals. The value of the food distributed is approximately NOK 220 million. – For the most vulnerable in society, the development is extremely demanding, and the result is that more and more people are skipping meals and opting out of healthy foods due to a lack of money. This means that the animal age can bring with it an extensive public health problem, says Markussen. Threatened by closure “Community for food” in Moss is run by the Salvation Army, the Church’s City Mission and the Gospel Centre. This is an important food distribution arena. But now the municipality is cutting its annual support of NOK 1.5 million. The mayor of Moss, Simen Nord (H), says that the municipality has to cut NOK 300 million and no longer has the opportunity to support the offer. Simen Nord, mayor of Moss (H) is sorry that the municipality can no longer afford to help. Photo: Even Bjørningsøy Johnsen / news – If the municipality’s financial situation had been better, then we would have supported this further, but so far we have not seen that we have the finances to do so, says Nord. The municipality has ended up on the Robek list and is subject to state financial control. Community for food receives tons of surplus food from large wholesalers. This food would otherwise have been thrown away. Together with a volunteer guide, customers can fill up a shopping basket with what they want, completely free of charge. – A far more worthwhile offer than just getting a bag of food delivered to the door, says project manager Ine Lindberg in the Salvation Army. Volunteers fill freezer counters and shelves in the store with food. Photo: Even Bjørningsøy Johnsen / news – Foreign research is at the top of our agenda. Many have become involved after it became known that the municipality will cut support. Both business and private companies have given money. The Sparebank 1 foundation Østfold and Akershus has given the project NOK one million. That saves the offer for the rest of the year. Project manager Ine Lindberg thanks Simen Helsleskaug in the Sparebank 1 foundation Østfold and Akershus and Jürgen Funk for important financial contributions. Photo: Even Bjørningsøy Johnsen / news – It’s about fighting food poverty and helping people in a difficult situation. This is an important and large project, and for us, outsideness is what is highest on our agenda when it comes to gifting, says general manager Simen Helsleskaug of the foundation. – Without financial support from the municipality, we cannot continue, says project manager Ine Lindberg. Photo: Even Bjørningsøy Johnsen / news Without the support, Lindberg in the Salvation Army would have had to close its doors. – It is the money that we use to pay electricity, rent, normal operating costs that everyone has to pay, and that we cannot get for free. Even we can’t pay electricity bills with chicken fillets, says Lindberg. Hope the politicians find a solution The shop has also received NOK 150,000 in support from Funk’s skin clinic in Moss. Jürgen Funk and Funk’s skin clinic in Moss support the project with NOK 150,000. Photo: Even Bjørningsøy Johnsen / news General manager Jürgen Funk believes that the poverty affecting the municipality is sad. – Norway is overflowing with oil money, yet we still have poverty here in our own city. I heard now that over 1000 children live below the poverty line. So there are hundreds of households that come here to get food, to survive. We cannot be familiar with that, says Funk. Juana Cofre has bought a lot of food, completely free. Photo: Even Bjørningsøy Johnsen / news Kronerullingen contributes to a better offer, but without municipal support it will be difficult to continue, says Lindberg. She hopes the politicians will find a solution to support the project and will reconsider the measure when next year’s budget is to be processed and adopted in December. Published 25/10/2024, at 13.56
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Important arena for food distribution may be closed – lack of money – news Østfold – Local news, TV and radio
