ONE in ten people in the south east have skipped meals, gone without food to feed their family or relied on family or friends for food in the last year, according to research published last week.
It is a plight affecting people in all communities. A food bank was set up in Merstham this autumn, and many other groups who provide help to those in east Surrey are seeing increasing demand.
Linda Sourris, from Loveworks, which runs the food bank to provide provisions to people in crisis, said: "There is hunger out there. It seems astonishing in an area like this, but it can happen anywhere.
"People can be just about managing, then something happens to tip them over and they find they are desperate."
The food bank has helped a range of people, including an elderly woman who hadn't eaten for three days, a victim of a domestic violence, and a family of five whose cupboards were bare.
East Surrey Welcare supports families with children under seven through times of difficulty, including handing out emergency provisions.
Centre manager Julie Mitchell said: "Families are choosing between eating and heating. We are coming across cases where we visit a home and keep our coats on.
"We can come back to a nice warm office and we know that family is sitting in a cold room."
Food supplies are difficult to store, but vouchers will make a real difference to families in the New Year.
The same is true of The Merstham Community Facility. It runs the 'Together at Christmas' community lunch on Christmas Day, and the Merstham Easter Project offers free hot meals to those in need.
Another Easter project was set up four years ago at St Mary's Church, Reigate, to provide a hot meal and companionship every Saturday.
Numbers have recently swelled to 80 per week, a figure put down to increasing financial hardship.
Chris Gladstone, one of the organisers, said: "Almost everyone is struggling financially.
"One person was saying it was the only hot meal they had all week. That takes some thinking about, that people are not able to put hot food on the table.
"It is horrifying really."
For east Surrey's homeless, daily nutrition can come from food scraps in a bin.
However, the area's winter homeless shelter, which opened on Saturday, not only provides somewhere safe and warm, but also gives desperately needed meals.
You can help provide that food, and help them host a Christmas Day lunch, to bring some light to those with nowhere to call home this Christmas.
Also providing some festive cheer is Age Concern. The charity hosts a Christmas lunch for up to 70 members.
Acting chief officer of the Merstham, Redhill and Reigate branch, Vicki Newman, said: "It is very rare the majority of our members can afford little luxuries.
"They come here and it gives them the opportunity to have a Christmas like everybody else."
See the shopping list on this page for how to offer your help to our Christmas appeal.
