THE AMOUNT of donations to the Malvern foodbank is up by 30 per cent from last year.
Since June 2014, the charity has received 21,600kg in donations of food and non-food items which is the equivalent of three fully-grown male African elephants.
Chris Bray, the foodbank’s chairman, said the increase was mainly down to the generous donations around Christmas and the harvest festivals in Autumn last year.
She also felt it was because of the introduction of a permanent collection bin at Waitrose Great Malvern, which had received more than 2,000kg in six months, while more than half of all donations come from the area’s churches.
In the last year the charity has helped 1,610 people in crisis – this was a slight three per cent decrease from the previous year. Despite this the foodbank has distributed 19,600kg – an increase of 35 per cent.
Chris said more people were going to the Spring Lane site where it was possible to give them more food than what their distribution centres could offer as they can only provide emergency boxes with basic supplies.
She added this could be helping to reduce the number of repeat visits, because they were being given the chance to tailor a food parcel to someone’s particular needs.
Chris said: “We are really grateful to the people who have donated.
“When we look at the yearly figures, in one way, it is good to know we have helped so many people but in another it is sad there are so many people in need.
“It is great we are meeting that need but it is not great so people need help.”
