Local Faces: Sue Ralph

“You would never think that in such a rich country like Ireland that we would have people starving,” Sue Ralph says, explaining the need for supports as Ballycullen Food Bank tackles a cost of living crisis head-on, on the ground, in the community.

“The reality is that people are starving, people you wouldn’t think of, and there is a dire need for support and for the government to intervene now.

“But sure, that’s not coming anytime soon. There is no light at the end of the tunnel here and us small people on the ground, trying to fight this, are getting the long and short of it.”

Ballycullen Food Bank started off with Tracy Griffin collecting items as part of a Christmas appeal but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Sue came on board to provide an increased level of support to struggling families.

The food bank is a double act, with Sue and Tracy exhaustively working to help families in need through food and gift hampers every week.

While some 150 customers are on the books of the Ballycullen Food Bank in total, there is around 100 people now consistently depending on the resources of the group.

However, with the cost of living constantly increasing and wages not mirroring it nationwide, even donators are struggling to offer up as much as they once could and donations are at an all-time low.

“With the cost of living going up, it is tough for everybody,” Firhouse resident Sue details.

“You have new customers coming all the time, and our donators would usually throw a few extra items in their basket on their weekly shop.

“But the last two donation days we’ve noticed less coming to us. People can’t afford that extra few bob to the same extent and we appreciate every single thing that they’ve given us.

Sue Ralph

“People don’t think that help is needed, because every donation day people do end up saying to us that they didn’t realise how much help people actually need.

“The reality is, people have never experienced this level of poverty and they haven’t a clue what people are going through.

“What I’d say to people is to think of the other person.

“That horrible homeless or junkie stereotype, with people saying they don’t deserve the food or the vouchers, it’s disgusting.

“It doesn’t matter what circumstance you’re in, it doesn’t define who you are because you’re human – and that’s what matters.

“You have to think that it could very easily happen to you one day. It could absolutely be you one day. Hitting rock bottom, not being able to afford general necessities could happen to anybody.

“What I’d say is to be generous, keep giving what you can and think of the other person.”

However, inflation is at a 38-year-high with Irish consumer prices increasing by an average of 7.8 percent in the 12-months up to May 2022.

This represents the largest annual increase in the consumer price index since 1984 when annual inflation reached 7.9 percent, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The cost of electricity is up 41 percent while gas is up 57 percent groceries have increased across the board in the past year.

Sue Ralph

An average sliced-pan of bread is up 12 cent with brown bread up 17 cent and a 500g packet of spaghetti up 19 cent.

These statistics can very easily be written off as numbers on the page, but this is being felt the most in the pockets of the general people in communities.

“We’re in a situation now where people with high mortgages and with general bills increasing are having to decide whether they want to eat or heat through the winter,” Sue exclaims.

“It’s disgusting that the government are letting this happen to people in our country. We have refugees able to get immediate help here, while Irish people are starving in their homes.

“So what is happening is people on the ground, working in food banks and community groups, are left to pick up the pieces.

“You’re having adults forfeiting meals so their kids can eat.

“We’re linked in with schools here in the community and what you might see is that the kids are coming in with low mood – and it comes down to hunger.

“So we have a little pop-up shop where a kid can come into school and get a pot noodle or whatever.

“But the sad thing is that we don’t know what these kids do for food out of school hours and they are finished now for the summer, we don’t know what they are going to do.”

Families are struggling to cope with the cost of living crisis that is upon the country and Sue is only hoping that this can come to an end one day.

Sue Ralph

At the moment, the Ballycullen Food Bank is on the hunt for a new home with their base at Knocklyon United’s Delaford premises not permanent.

Ballycullen Food Bank holds donation days once and a month and offers constant updates on their Facebook page.

The group recently launched a GoFundMe to help increase their supply of food parcels to those most in need HERE.

“If this was a business, we’d be doing very well for ourselves with the amount of customers that we have,” Sue concludes.

“But the reality is, we don’t want the business. The number of customers that we have is always increasing but that’s not what we want.

“We want the number of customers that we have to be decreasing, up the point where we have nobody coming to us looking for supplies.”