Volunteers at Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge Foodbank are helping record numbers of struggling local families this winter.
The Foodbank volunteers, pictured here, have seen an influx of requests in recent weeks – and Burnham-On-Sea.com went behind the scenes to see the team at work.
“For the period from 1st April 2017 to 15th December 2017, the Burnham and Highbridge Foodbank has helped 765 adults and 400 children aged 18 and under, making a total of 1,165 people – which is a big increase on the same period last year,” Bev Milner Simonds from the Foodbank told Burnham-On-Sea.com.
“In the same period last year, we saw 540 adults and 300 under-18s, making a total of 840 people. A total of 138 food parcels are required every month.”
She adds: “Christmas won’t be coming for some local families in need, so these food parcels are hugely important to them and we thank local people for donating items in our local supermarkets.”
Alan Davies added: “One lady came along earlier this month and brought us 80kg of food donations as a thank you to the Foodbank for previously helping them in difficult situation. It was lovely to see the lady again and hear that she’s back on her feet again.”
“Thanks to the generosity of locals, we received 1.7 tonnes of donations over three days during our latest collection at Tesco earlier this month, but we need donations all year-round to meet demand.”
The Foodbank has a team of 18 helpers and is also in need of more volunteers – they need to be local people who can give as little as two hours a week to help sort and stack food donations, or with client facing work, or collecting food donations.
Call in at Burnham’s Methodist Church on Tuesdays or Saturdays from 10am-12 noon where you can speak with the team upstairs.
The Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge Foodbank supports people in need in Burnham-On-Sea, Highbridge, Brent Knoll, Huntspill and nearby villages. People have to be referred to the Foodbank by registered agencies.
