Demand for food banks and support services is “getting out of hand”, charities have warned.

Thousands in Medway are finding themselves reliant on collections and soup kitchens to put food on the table for them and their families.

And as winter approaches and inflation rises charities offering those services fear the demand will only continue to shoot up.

Last month the Gillingham Street Angels charity fed a record 21,000 people.

Hours are spent preparing the food for their weekly soup kitchens which are attended by hundreds.

One woman told KMTV: “It is very hard to survive out on the street. It’s so expensive now to eat everyday.”

Another said: “I lost my father seven months ago so it’s been a little bit hard for us.

“These people (the Street Angels) are really good, they help the community and if it wern’t for these people I think a lot more people would be in more trouble than they are now.”

This year it’s taken the Medway-based food bank nearly a million pounds to run it services.

Neil Charlick, who set up the Gillingham Street Angels in 2018 with wife Tracey, said: “When we first started doing the soup kitchens back five years ago we were probably doing 40-50 people a night.

“Last month it was 21,500 people coming through the food bank and the soup kitchens.

“There’s other stuff we do which we don’t record so the numbers are just getting out of hand really.”

But he adds: “I’m lucky we’ve got a good team of people that get the job done and make it possible to do it”.

Earlier this week Mr Charlick hit out at the Home Secretary’s proposal to crack down on the use of tents by the homeless and her comments suggesting for many it was a “lifestyle choice”.

The charity boss accused her of being out of touch with the problems facing rough sleepers.

He told KentOnline: “Does she not realise some people don’t have a choice?

“I get calls on a daily basis from people who for whatever reason have been kicked out of their home.

“And by far, they are not all alcoholics and drug addicts.”

Mr Charlick suggested the Home Secretary “step out of her white castle” and come to one of their soup kitchens and meet some “real people”.

And independent charities are not the only to report the demand for their services is outstripping supply.

The Trussell Trust reports that between April and September this year it distributed 165,500 food parcels across the South East.

In Medway alone it sent a total of 7,101 emergency food parcels over the last year.

That’s an increase of around 2,500 from this period last year.

Esther Hurwood, project manager at the Swale Foodbank, which is part of the Trust said: “For a while we saw massive increases in families and then we were seeing a massive increase in individuals.

“So individual people coming and needing our help.”

The food bank is forecasting another 49% increase over the next six months.

She added: “It’s just incredibly busy at the moment.”