A RALLYING call has gone out to Evesham shoppers to dig deep and support the town’s foodbank after charity chiefs warned their stock was extremely low following a surge in demand.
Caring Hands in the Vale issued the plea after a massive increase in referrals in the last few months which was seen more than 50 food parcels donated in the last three weeks alone.
While the donations will provide an estimated 2,500 meals for more than 100 people, the huge increase has piled the pressure on the charity which is based at the Vale of Evesham Christian Centre on Bewdley Street.
Diane Bennett, from Caring Hands in the Vale, said: “Our food stocks are now extremely low and in fact have no stocks of a lot of items. We are struggling to keep up with demand and would welcome any donations of non-perishable food items. “
“Thank you for the incredible support we receive from the community of the Vale of Evesham.”
The charity is on the lookout for donations of tinned vegetables, tinned fruit, cereals, jam/marmalade, corned beef/ham, rice, tinned spaghetti, meals in a tin such as meatballs and ravioli, tinned tomatoes and instant mash.
Shoppers can drop off donations at Tesco on Worcester Road, TSB on Bridge Street and also One Stop on High Street or alternatively any donations can be dropped off at the Vale of Evesham Christian Centre itself.
The charity’s warning came in the week a shocking new report from the Trussell Trust revealed a staggering 13million people now live below the poverty line in the UK, with individuals going hungry every day for a range of reasons, from benefit delays to receiving an unexpected bill on a low income.
Between April 2017 and the end of last month, the trust’s network of 400 foodbanks across the UK handed out 1,332,952 three day emergency food supplies, a 13 percent increase on the previous year. A total of 484,026 of these went to children.
Emma Revie, chief executive of the Trussell Trust, said: “As a nation we expect no one should be left hungry or destitute – illness, disability, family breakdown or the loss of a job could happen to any of us, and we owe it to each other to make sure sufficient financial support is in place when we need it most.
Visit www.chands.org.uk for more information on Evesham’s foodbank.
