Appeal for donations as food bank running short

Louth Community Larder, situated at the Trinity Centre on Eastgate in the town centre, may have to reduce the amount of food they give and will soon have to use their reserves to maintain their food stock.

Greg Gilbert, who runs the food bank on behalf of Louth and District Churches Together, said that despite the steady number of clients coming in and needing an emergency parcel of food, they are running short of donations of food.

He said: “We are given some donations from Morrisons and the Co-op, and we used to get regular donations from local people but the number of donations we’ve had have really gone down recently – maybe due to the cost of living crisis.

"We’re still getting a steady stream of people but not getting a steady stream of donations, so we’re running short.”

As the food bank isn’t part of the national foodbank charity The Trussell Trust, they rely on the good will of donations from local people and businesses.

As supplies are already running low, they may have to reduce the amount of food they give – reducing the number of meals they provide from three meals a day for four days to three days.Greg said that they’ve had some really heartbreaking cases come through their doors in need of food, and although most of their clients are referrals, they will never turn someone away who comes to the larder for help:

"We help a lot of people who have drug or alcohol addictions, and a lot of families.

"It’s heart-breaking to see families coming in begging for food, especially at Christmas, and we do Christmas hampers every year.

"We’ve had people come in crying when they have nothing to give their children for Christmas.”

The donations the community larder needs the most are tinned or packaged food, including rice pudding, tinned meat, tinned tomatoes and vegetables, cereals and packets of rice.

Donations of food for the food bank can be dropped off at the Trinity Centre or St James Church, both from 9am to 4pm, or at the drop box at the Newbridge Hill Co-op branch.

The Larder operates Monday to Friday, from 9am to 10am.

For a referral, call 01507 605803 or email [email protected]