The essentials are missing.

The director of the Wiesbadener Tafel, Ruth Friedrich-Wurzel, is therefore asking the population of the state capital for donations on Facebook.

The Tafel sees itself exposed to a veritable rush of needy people.

"We need food for the Ukrainian refugees, because they are all in front of our door," she describes the situation in a video that was published in the Facebook group "Lust auf Wiesbaden".

However, the need is not a specialty of Wiesbaden.

All 58 Hessian food banks urgently need help to provide families, refugees, pensioners and single parents with enough food.

Willi Schmid, chairman of the Hessian state association, raises the alarm and says: "We need support from the state of Hesse."

Theresa White

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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The boards groan.

There are fewer donations and more needy people.

Some are still holding up quite well, such as the one in Mainz, as the local chairman Dieter Hanspach says.

It's true that he took on 291 new customers in just one week – all of them Ukrainian refugees.

But the output still works.

"The bags are maybe a little less full, but it's still ok."

Frankfurt's needy can no longer be cared for

Things are different in Frankfurt.

The Frankfurter Tafel is the largest in the region.

At the same time, it is a hub, supplying not only the twelve distribution points in the city, but also food banks in Fulda, Limburg or elsewhere.

A Tafel transporter with Dieburg license plates drives into the yard of the logistics center this Tuesday.

"I'll give him something to take with him, otherwise he'll have to close," says Norbert Nickel, who regulates the issue and distribution.

Nickel is concerned.

His warehouse is almost empty.

The 27,000 people who depend on food in Frankfurt can no longer be supplied because people keep coming to the camp and picking up the rare donations there.

More than 100 people were there that morning.

"Whatever is picked up here is missing in the queue at the end," says Nickel.

His boss Rainer Häusler, CEO of the Frankfurter Tafel, agrees: "Actually, we had supplies for three months here in the warehouse." These have been used up.

Häusler doesn't know how he can get by for more than maybe two or three days without donations.

But send away the needy?

The helpers can't do that either.

The situation in Frankfurt is serious: it is said that donations have fallen by up to 80 percent.

The number of customers, on the other hand, has increased so drastically that the Tafel can't even count it.

Last week, 1,000 people came to the logistics center in an industrial area where no food is normally handed out.

Many Hessian food banks report a drop in donations

According to Schmid from the regional association, there are many reasons that make the work of the boards more difficult.

Overall, food donations in Hesse have fallen by around 20 percent.

"Fewer and fewer donations are being made by the grocery stores to the food banks because the retailers plan better and try to sell their products with special offers just before closing time," reports Schmid.

The decline was confirmed in a survey in which more than 70 percent of the Hessian food banks took part.

On some days, there are a lot more at the big tables.

It is a dilemma, because less food is faced with more people in need.

There are many reasons for this too.

Customers who avoided the panels during the pandemic are now returning.

There are also families who, according to Schmid, can no longer make ends meet since inflation picked up.

“When families have to make large back payments on their oil and gas bills, it can add up to 2,000 euros per family per year.

That pushes people to their financial limits,” explains Schmid.