A GLASGOW food bank handed out more than 3000 meals in just a month to hungry families.

The lifeline service, based in Govanhill, gave the packages of food to 219 adults and 116 kids during the month of June.

These shocking figures show the growing dependency on handouts in the city.

We told you last week that a food bank in Scotstoun had served up 2223 meals to desperate families in just three months.

This equated to more than 500 shopping bags filled with nearly 1900kg of groceries. The emergency supplies were given to 161 hungry adults and 86 children in crisis across the city.

Staff at the Glasgow North West Food Bank in Blawarthill Parish Church, on Millbrix Avenue, Scotstoun, which is part of the Trussell Trust Charity, said they feared they were only "scratching the surface" of the problem

And it can now be revealed that the Glasgow South East Food Bank, in Inglefield Street, Govanhill, has been even more in demand, with 335 people asking for help in just four weeks.

Audrey Flanagan, manager of the South Side service, which is also part of The Trussell Trust, said the rising number of hungry clients is all down to tough new rules on benefits.

She told the Evening Times: "I am shocked by the figures.

"A lot of these people are in difficulty because they have been hit with benefits sanctions.

"If they don't apply for enough jobs or are late for appointments then they can and will be sanctioned.

"Of the 335 people who came to us in June, 222 did so because of benefits changes.

"Our statistics show that most were single adults, the biggest age range was 24 to 64 and the biggest ethnic group was white."

Each single person who uses the food bank gets two bags of non-perishable food, a family is given four bags and single parents with one child are allocated three bags.

Everyone is given nine meals to last them three days.

There are now 15 food banks operating in Glasgow – run by charities, churches and community groups – and the number is likely to increase.

Volunteers across the city are bracing themselves for a spike in the number of requests from parents who are struggling to feed their children during the summer holidays.

As we reported earlier this month, a rising number of Glasgow families, who rely on school breakfasts or free lunches to provide their children with at least one square meal a day, are expected to turn to food banks for help.

A total of 18,878 children in Glasgow, from a school population of 62,700 pupils, are entitled to free meals – 30% of all pupils in the city.

linzi.watson@ eveningtimes.co.uk