Leeds South and East Foodbank has launched a new appeal, asking local people to take a different approach this Harvest by giving a ‘Combined Harvest’ donation of food and money, which will help the charity continue its vital work during the shift from Autumn to Winter, when the foodbank sees a significant rise in need for their support.
Jason White, Wendy Doyle, Amie Thompson, Steve Vincent & Denise Comer
The foodbank, which is part of The Trussell Trust Foodbank Network, provides vital emergency support to local people when something unavoidable – such as redundancy, illness or even an unexpected large bill – hits and there’s no money to put food on the table. In the last financial year, 6239 local people in crisis were issued with three day worth of emergency food supplies by the foodbank. 2584 of these went to children.
Wendy Doyle, Foodbank manager said:
“During previous years we’ve been incredibly humbled by the level of support local people have given the foodbank at Harvest time. We want to say a big thank you to everyone who has donated food, time or money; your compassion and support means that people in Leeds South and East were unable to afford food after being hit by something like redundancy, illness or a delayed benefit payment, have had somewhere to turn.
“We rely on the support of the local community to make a lasting impact in South and East Leeds, providing emergency food but also helping people to break out of crisis more long term. All of the food we provide is donated, so food donations are really important. But the foodbank also has lots of costs you might not immediately think of: we have to rent storage space for our food, cover transport costs and pay for utilities and insurance.
“We are particularly grateful for extra help at Harvest as we prepare for winter, the foodbank’s busiest time of the year.
“That’s why this Harvest we would love for anyone considering helping the foodbank to ‘combine’ their donation and give both money and food – it will make a real difference as we continue to provide much-needed help to people in our community.”
People can make a financial donation to the foodbank at: The Donate section on our website: leedssouthandeast.foodbank.org.uk
