New foodbank looks for extra warehouse

It was expected the Foodbank would start handing out the first parcels on Friday but the opening has had to be delayed.

The Foodbank will be run on a voucher system and team leader Paul Comber explained it was important to get those properly in place before they started.

He added: “Food will be distributed from the Shoreham Centre on a Friday, 4pm to 6pm, but they are not to be contacted.”

Parcels of food, enough for three days, can only be given to people with the correct voucher. The vouchers are provided via care professionals who refer poor families to the foodbank.

For information on volunteering for the Shoreham Foodbank, opening times, or frontline care professionals becoming partners as referral voucher holders, email [email protected], visit the website www.shoreham.foodbank.org.uk or telephone 07908143313.

The foodbank is being set up with the support of Christian organisation The Trussell Trust and Mr Comber said there was now enough food in the warehouse to start handing out parcels, as soon as the vouchers are in place. It is hoped that will be December 6.

More storage space is also needed and anyone who can offer room in a warehouse is asked to contact Mr Comber.

Among the most recent donations was a big pile of tins and packets from Swiss Gardens Primary School’s harvest festival.

Mr Comber spoke to pupils in years three to six about the foodbank, basing the talk on the nursery rhyme Old Mother Hubbard.

He explained Mother Hubbard’s cupboard was bare and asked the children how they thought she could fill it with food.

He told them Mr Hubbard was looking for a job so the family had no money for food but luckily Shoreham Foodbank was able to help tide them over.

The special vouchers needed were available from GPs, Citizens Advice Bureau, social services, schools and churches, he added.

Vouchers entitle the holder to three days’ worth of food, such as soup, pasta, fruit juice tinned meat and fish.

The foodbank gives a menu guide with the food and some recipes, showing how to make the most of it.