Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge’s Mayor and Mayoress have this week made a special visit to the team of volunteers who are busy running the town’s Food Bank over the Christmas period.
Mayor Cllr Andy Brewer and Mayoress Lorna Brewer praised the group of “inspirational” volunteers who are giving up many hours of their time to help local families in need.
The couple visited the helpers at the Highbridge and Burnham Food Bank HQ in Burnham Medthodist Church, pictured here.
The Mayor told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “It’s sad that there’s a need for a service like this but it’s so important that it’s here.”
“The Food Bank has a fantastic team of very dedicated volunteers supporting those who are need of help. The effort from them is very commendable.”
“The generosity of Burnham shoppers giving the food is also superb – this really is ‘community’ as its best.”
The Foodbank team, pictured here, have seen an influx of demand during recent weeks from needy locals and the group has thanked generous shoppers for giving donations.
Nick Bashford, Chair of the local foodbank, said: “We have been overwhelmed by the wonderful support from the local community this last year. Our annual Tesco Christmas event collected 1,571 kilos of food in just three days with food continuing to be donated in the collection baskets at Tesco and Asda.”
“Since the start of this year we have fulfilled 910 vouchers which has fed 1,286 adults and 570 children – a total of 1,856 people. This is a huge increase over the same period last year – with 28% more referral vouchers and 15% more people fed.”
“We would not be able to provide this service to our local community without the wonderful group of volunteers who freely give their time and energies in collecting, sorting and distributing food.”
“We are also very grateful to the Methodist Church in Burnham, St.John’s and Hope Baptist in Highbridge for the continued use of their premises.”
