Charity donations to Newark Food Bank keeping community spirit strong in cost of living crisis

A charity has revealed that more people than ever are making donations despite the difficulties of the cost of living crisis.

Stephen Charnock, from Newark Food Bank, said demand for the service was extensive, and it was struggling to keep up.

He said: “We get about four tonnes of food in donations a month, but on top of that we have to go out and buy around another £1,000 worth so that we can continue to support the people in need, especially over Christmas.”

From April to December this year the food bank has exceeded the total number of food parcels they provided for whole of the 2021-22 financial year, equating to around a 30% increase in demand.

This demand jumped to 50% in December alone.

“We provide three days-worth of food parcels, each with three meals a day.” said Stephen.

“To put it into perspective, we recently provided food parcels to 101 clients, that is 909 meals in just one session.”

Despite these challenges, Stephen was grateful for the community’s support, saying: “I just want to thank the people of Newark and surrounding areas for their continued donations.

“It’s pretty amazing really that even though we are in a cost-of-living crisis which has seen demand increase dramatically, we are actually receiving the same if not more donations than ever.

“It’s really encouraging to see the community come together to help those in need and long may it continue.”

Newark Business Club made a £500 donation to the food bank. Club chairman, Kevin Guthrie, said: “ We found ourselves with a little bit of spare cash from a recent networking event.

“We decided to take that little pot of money that was left, double it and donate it.

“Things are really tight at this time of year and we chose the Newark Foodbank because more people are using their services than ever before and they need all the help they can get.

“Given the amount of people that they touch in term of the food that they give away is just incredible.

“I just hope that this money will help people a little bit and make this Christmas a little less stressed and a bit more comfortable.

“Every year I meet up with friends and we do a secret Santa, but this year we decided to all bring five items, put them in a box for the food bank.

“If everybody could do little things like that, like not having a coffee and go and buy some food instead, it goes a long way in terms of touching people’s lives.

“I think we all take for granted just what we have around us, because some people are down to their last tin of beans and I can’t even imagine being in that situation.”

The food bank also plans to expand it’s additional social supermarket model which offers users an opportunity to choose products at a discounted price, allowing individuals more freedom , helping to stretch money further.

Anyone wishing to make donations can do so at drop off point in supermarkets or direct to the food bank on Carter Gate, Newark.

The food bank is in particular need of every day items such as toiletries and household products.