Donating to the town’s food bank just became a little easier

Donating to the town’s food bank just became a little easier, as a new collection point was set up
Geraldine Scott
Reporter
Great Yarmouth Mercury / Eastern Daily Press
 
Generous members of the public are now able to drop donations for the Great Yarmouth Foodbank into Harbour Radio on King Street, after volunteer Dave Eagle saw a Facebook post saying the foodbank had run out of food
 
That was when he had the idea to set up what he is calling the Food Army
 
Mr Eagle said: “The Food Army came about as for the last three years at Christmas I have been taking things down to the Salvation Army in Lowestoft.  I had someone help me out and we had 15 odd boxes full of food. So I thought if two people can get that involved at Christmas time, why not the rest of the year?  So the Food Army idea is to get more people involved and to get children involved too”
 
So Mr Eagle teamed up with Ben Stone, from the Anchorage Trust - which helps homeless young people - and Lieutenant Ben Selfe from Salvation Army
 
Mr Selfe said: “We put up [on Facebook] that the cupboards were empty, I’ve never seen that before.  We have 300 people a month use the foodbank - that can be single people or families. And particularly with the introduction of Universal Credit people are coming for six weeks at a time”
 
He added the parcels they give out are based on need, including how many people are in a family or where they are living. For example, if someone were homeless they would be given ready-to-eat food or if they are staying in a bed and breakfast with just a kettle, food which can be prepared using that
 
Mr Selfe said: “Having extra collection points is useful; it makes it more convenient and raises the profile of the Food Bank”
 
Mr Stone said as well as donations, the Food Army would also be keen to hear from anyone who can help get the word out there about the cause

He said: “If there’s a collective of people who want to get involved, we would love that”
 
• For more information search ‘Great Yarmouth Food Army’ on Facebook

• For more information on accessing Foodbank services visit www.greatyarmouthfoodbank.co.uk

 this article previously appeared in the Yarmouth Mercury
photograph: James Bass

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