<p>The Trussell Trust is the largest provider of food banks across the country with over 400 operational food banks. Of these the Church of England’s parishes are closely involved in running and supporting 100 food banks across the country. In addition many churches operate their own food banks which operate at a local level providing support for people within the local community.</p><p>The Church Urban Fund ‘Hungry No More’ surveyed 466 Church of England clergy and found that four in five of their churches were supporting a food bank in one or more ways:</p><p>75% of churches surveyed collect food for food banks;</p><p>38% of churches surveyed provide volunteers;</p><p>21% of churches surveyed help to manage a food bank; and</p><p>21% of churches surveyed distribute food vouchers.</p><p>The majority of these activities have been running for less than two years, indicating the rapid growth of the food bank network. The Church of England is considering how it can rebalance church-based activity away from emergency crisis support and towards long-term work that tackles the underlying problems. The Church in partnership with Oxfam and the Child Poverty Action Group are conducting joint research to examine the underlying reasons for the rapid growth in the use of food banks and recommend changes in policy and practice that would help to reduce the use of food banks in the longer term.</p>