Over the Christmas period, the Lincoln Foodbank collected over ten tonnes of donations from the public to help vulnerable families and individuals.
The aid totals more than double the five tonnes donated in 2018 and was boosted by its partnership with the Lincolnshire Co-op over the festive period.
Cat Middleton, Foodbank Project Worker at Lincoln Foodbank, spoke about how important donations are and the difference they can make in people’s lives.
“Due to a rise in the cost of living especially during the winter months with gas and electricity, we see that people have to choose between spending £10 at the shop or topping up gas and electricity which is a really difficult decision to make, especially people with children at home.
“That’s quite a normal conversation lots of people come to us with.
“Because we see a dip in donations from March to July, it means the donations that we get at this time of year are really important as they see us through the months where we don’t get many.”
Over December, Lincolnshire Co-op and Lincolnshire Live teamed up to support a food bank appeal with shoppers encouraged to donate items every day to then be passed onto local food banks.
With 39 participating food banks and community larders involved, the campaign centres around an advent calendar indicating which item to donate on each day including confectionery, tinned goods, and toilet roll.
A spokesperson at Lincolnshire Co-op said: “We created the foodbank advent calendar to help our local food banks and community larders – they provide vital support to people having a hard time.
“We have been overwhelmed by the generosity shown in our communities – the donations have been flooding in, and we’re currently totting up the total.”
Ms Middleton praised the advent calendar scheme calling it “brilliant and successful” and explained how the Co-op helps support the Lincoln Foodbank.
“We have a really good partnership with the Co-op”, she said. “They are very supportive not just at Christmas but all year round and we have donation bins in their stores all year round too.”
To help support the Foodbank, follow this link.