VOLUNTEERS at Crediton Foodbank would like to thank the Crediton community for its support during what has become the foodbank’s busiest time ever.

On Tuesday, March 31, Hazel Evely, community champion at Crediton’s Morrisons store delivered £1,000 worth of food items to the food bank, but it did not stay on the shelves for very long!

Within minutes of it arriving the volunteers had begun packing the food into bags to go out to families and individuals in need.

Speaking to the "Courier", Chris Parsons, Crediton Foodbank Co-ordinator and Community Support Worker, said: "Crediton Foodbank has become very busy due to the current situation and people are finding themselves without enough money to put food on their table. We are now operating a delivery only service.

“This has led to a 48 per cent rise in our usual numbers of allocations to people. We are receiving a lot of referrals from schools as well as through our usual channels.

“It is a big challenge to cope with the demand but we are working very hard to ensure children and families get the nutrition they need, especially when they do not have access to free school meals.

“We have actually given out more food donations in the first three months of this year than we did in the whole of 2017, which shows the enormity of the situation.

“We are really grateful for this contribution from Morrisons today that has boosted supplies that were getting low, and are also grateful for the time and energy given by the Crediton Tesco store community champion.

"We greatly appreciate all the kind donations from people in our local community, of groceries in the food collection bins in Tesco’s and Morrisons or to the foodbank by arrangement and for the financial donations received that enable us to buy fresh food each week.

"There are some items that we are short of, so if people can find them in the shops and can donate them, they will go to good homes! This includes strawberry jame, tinned vegetables, tinned tomatoes, rice pudding, shower gel, toothpaste, deodorant (men and women), toilet rolls and washing-up liquid.”

Hazel Evely said: “I am really pleased to be able to donate this food to Crediton Foodbank as part of Morrisons ‘Feeding the Nation’ commitment.

“Morrisons this week committed to supply foodbanks with £10 million of extra stock including items like bread, eggs, pasta, teabags, tinned tuna and much more. This equates to about £1,000 worth of items from each store to support those affected by the coronavirus pandemic until the end of July.”

People needing food parcels can use the usual referral agencies who will then email the vouchers direct to the co-ordinator or if that is difficult they can get in touch with the Foodbank direct by email at: [email protected] or telephone 07740 202721.

• Mid Devon District Council says that due to the current COVID-19 situation it is unable to give out food vouchers in line with its Local Welfare Assistance scheme (www.middevon.gov.uk/residents/benefits/local-welfare-assistance/ ). In the Tiverton area food vouchers can be obtained through CHAT (https://chatmid.org/ ) or telephone directly on 01884 255606.

Follow Crediton Foodbank on “Facebook” for up-to-date information.