'I had a good job and a mortgage too... it was hard to accept I couldn't eat without a food bank'

“As long as my kids are fed, it doesn’t matter if I’m eating or not.”

Those are the words, uttered by a young mum, that sent a food bank volunteer home in tears.

As the cost of living rises, the country is on the brink of a crisis.

Soaring household energy bills - combined with static wages, surging food and petrol costs and mortgages - mean even more families are faced with making decisions they could never have imagined.

READ MORE: GMP went to home of woman at centre of rape and murder inquiry day before she died

The volunteers at the Brandlesholme Community Centre know better than anyone just how dire the situation has become.

Before the pandemic, there wasn’t even a food bank in Brandlesholme, a suburb to the north of Bury.

But there was a community centre.

Like many local groups up and down the country, it started delivering food parcels to people isolating during the pandemic.

But volunteers soon realised that the need went beyond that.

It became a food bank, and now it can’t stop being a food bank.

They’ve considered scaling the operation back, and putting the community centre at the forefront once again, but too many people need them.

The Manchester Evening News spent two days at the food bank speaking to volunteers and the people who need their help.

These are their stories.

Today was the first time Phil had gone into the food bank alone. Every other time, he’d been joined by his mum.

He admits that for years he was ‘too proud’ to ask for help - or to even acknowledge that he needed it.

“I still think there’s a stigma that you can’t look after yourself,” he said.

He says that there will be people out there struggling in silence.

“I know that because I did it myself,” he said.

Phil and his family have had an