(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Clutching a bag of pasta, canned pears and beef, David Kirk leaves a food bank in one of Britain's poorest corners - his sixth visit in a few weeks.
"It's certainly a big help," the tattooed 54-year-old said as he loaded the free supplies into his car in the town of Camborne in Cornwall in the southwest of England.
"My wife has been diagnosed with cancer and I'm not able to work at the moment," Kirk said.
The growing numbers of Britons turning to food banks run by charities to get by has become a key political issue weeks from a May 7 general election.
The first question thrown at Prime Minister David Cameron in a prime time television grilling on Thursday was about how many food banks had sprung up during his five years in power.
Cameron parried, saying his government had created jobs to lift people out of poverty and rejected the idea of a "broken Britain".
But the reality looks different at a food bank in the backroom of a church in Camborne on a peninsula famous for its beaches, holiday homes and rich history.
It is less known for being one of the country's poorest regions, with average wages of around £14,300 (20,000 euros, $21,300) a year - five times lower than in London, according to European Union data.
- 'You've got to feed them' -
Near a piano covered with a blanket and old Bibles, volunteers fill bags with vegetables, tea, rice and other staples.
Nicola Bacca, 32, came with her daughter and said her benefits had been cut "through no fault of our own".
"That left us with very little money," said Bacca, who has four children and complained that all of her money was used up paying bills.
"Food is the final thing on the list and with four children? You got to feed them."
The Camborne food bank opened in 2009 in the wake of the global financial crisis.
But rather than becoming less frequented as the economy has strengthened, the opposite has happened, according to its 70-year-old founder Don Gardner.
"The first month we did about 150 meals," Gardner said. "Now it's 2,000 meals on average. Weekly."
A former tin-producing town, Camborne has never truly recovered from the closure of its mines - their remains still visible under encroaching vegetation.
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