Waterford's fight against child hunger
Waterford Food Bank at Harvest Festival 2026, running their Big Breakfast Swap campaign
One in 10 children in Ireland are affected by child poverty, with ESRI research published last week showing that 200,000 children across the country are living in households below the poverty line.
Waterford Food Bank, operating as an unfunded programme of Buíon Phort Láirge (formerly Waterford Area Partnership), are tackling the reality of this growing issue every day.
"Child poverty is rising, and we are seeing that reality locally," Karen Glancy, administration and support for Waterford Food Bank told this newspaper, "Increasing numbers of working or dual-income families are seeking help because their earnings no longer cover housing, energy, food and other essentials.
"People from every background can find themselves needing support, and they are treated with respect, understanding, and complete confidentiality (at Waterford Food Bank)."
Karen and the rest of the staff at Waterford Food Bank help to support more than 250 families across Waterford each week with four-day food parcels free of charge.
Just under 80% of whom, John Barrett, manager of Waterford Food Bank said, are dual income families.
"If I could get Simon Harris and Mícheál Martin and that to come down, literally get into a van here and drive around with us on one of our delivery days and see that we hit every estate in Waterford, not just the 'disadvantaged areas', I think it would be a little bit of an eye opener for them as to where real child poverty is," Ms. Glancy said, "It's not in the 'deprived' areas of the city, it's in every estate, and the dual income families' children are struggling just as much as anyone else's."
The biggest thing you can do, and often times the best thing you can do, as far as Karen and John see it, is ask for help.
"Regardless of what situation you're in," she said, "ask for help."
The food bank was first established in 2017, under Buíon Phort Láirge's charity number but ran separately, and has been its own official programme since 2019.
The food bank, Mr Barrett explained, is one of only two food banks in Ireland that supply people with fresh meat, as far as he is aware.
They are supplied with shelf-stable foods like pasta, rice, and tinned foods through funding made available to the Irish government from the European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD) scheme, which allocates local charities a number of 'credits' based on the number of service users they have.
Waterford Food Bank, John told the Waterford News & Star, receives 32,000 credits per quarter, 128,000 a year, which they use to 'buy' the bulk of their food.
The rest of the food they use in their weekly packages, bread, milk, three fresh meat products and cheese, all come from donations or funds raised by the food bank themselves, costing somewhere in the region of €250,000 a year, John said.
"We put into it what we would want one of our family members to get if they needed help," Karen explained, "that's the way we operate, we treat people the way we would like to be treated, with confidentiality, dignity, and respect."
Each staff member in the organisation is required to sign confidentiality agreements, she continued, to ensure the families coming to them for help can receive it knowing their privacy is protected.
The Waterford Food Bank delivery trucks, Mr. Barrett and Ms. Glancy explained, have the food bank's logo on them for advertising purposes when being driven around the city or at events, but are concealed by a magnetic sheet when making deliveries so that every part of the process is done with discretion in mind.
"Every cent we get we value," she continued, "and we have a moral obligation, in our view, to make sure that money goes towards food and the delivery of food, that's where the money goes."
Aside from food bought from money raised by the food bank, and the FEAD scheme, the food bank often receives food donations from food drive campaigns and regular local business sponsors, like Flahavan's, Dawn Meats, Curran Foods, D & G Foods and many others, a lot of whom prefer to go unnamed Mr. Barrett said, "We'd be lost without them, we just wouldn't function."
The food bank is run by volunteers and people helping through various schemes, they explained, with only one paid member of staff to ensure a level of continuity and consistency.
"It can be soul destroying here, the amount of food that's going out," Ms Glancy told our reporter, "And you know these people really need help. There's something wrong with that in 2026, that food insecurity is a very real issue, there's something very wrong with that, you know.
"Technology has just exceeded anyone's dreams and yet we've gone back into food poverty, where's the equity in that?"
As an unfunded programme, the food bank raises funds and gathers food donations year-round through different campaigns.
A more recent one being their festival pop-ups, where they sell 'fight against hunger' wristbands at local festivals for €5 donations.
Their presence at the recent Waterford Harvest Festival was a bit bigger, where they hosted The Big Breakfast Swap, where members of the public donated non-perishable food and received a breakfast blaa in return, with support from The Olive Cafe and everything needed for the breakfasts donated by local businesses Hickey's Bakery, Countrystyle Foods and a local egg producer.
The end of the summer doesn't mean the end of their festival fundraising, however, with an appearance of some sort in the works for this year's Winterval celebration.
The food bank also run a return bottle initiative, which has raised over €45,000 since the initiative began in 2024.
“It’s a wonderful example of businesses and the community working together to turn returned bottles and cans into practical support for local families," they said.
Their annual Fill a Bus appeal also produces much-needed donations for the food bank, by collecting food donated by local schools and businesses, with two buses to be filled in this year's campaign on Tuesday, November 24.
Posters and further information will be appearing shortly, they said, urging everyone in Waterford to keep on eye on the food bank's social media and support a collection in their school, workplace or community as it's "one of our most important food drives and helps replenish essential stock ahead of Christmas".
The food bank also developed an online recipe book with the help of the nutritionists in the Sacred Heart Community Centre to help families who may not have the life skills to know how to prepare meals with the foods provided to them through the food bank.
The recipe book and how-to videos are available for free on the Buíon Phort Láirge website and Youtube channel.
"It just gives people breathing space, that's what it's about," Ms Glancy said, "It's not for anybody to become dependent on it, it's not to look at it like it's part of an income, it's to get people over this hump and give people a bit of breathing space in crisis and hard times that can hit any of us."
The food bank also regularly refer users to other services, which can offer them help and support in more long-term ways, supporting families to get back on their feet.
Waterford Food Bank also anonymously support breakfast clubs in a number of schools in the city, helping to ensure children can begin their school day nourished, settled and ready to learn.
Assistance on this scheme is provided discreetly, without identifying or singling out any child, and is open to every child in the school.
"It is about giving every child the same opportunity to participate fully in school, regardless of the financial pressures facing their families."
Last year 210 children used the breakfast clubs supported by Waterford Food Bank, with more expected to avail of them in the coming school year.
Waterford Food Bank is best summed up in John Barrett's own words, "We're a bunch of ordinary people who are trying to help people who are less fortunate than ourselves."
