A BOLTON charity has thanked the town’s “incredible” people for helping to avert a major crisis.

Urban Outreach, which helps Bolton’s hungry, homeless and vulnerable was forced to put out an appeal via Twitter when it realised vital supplies at its food store were rapidly running out.

Public generosity meant the charity was inundated with donations, leaving co-founder Mr Dave Bagley staggered.

“The response has been incredible and astounding,” he said. “We offer a heartfelt thanks to the hundreds of people who helped us out.”

He added: “Our supplies were massively depleted and we only had enough food left for half a week.

“For some unknown reason, there’s recently been a big increase in the number of people accessing the service.”

The food, which is donated by the public and businesses, is used to feed people who use the charity’s two community Storehouse Pantries in Johnson Fold and Halliwell.

The pantries allows local residents to access food and other household essentials at a low cost.

Urban Outreach also operates a Storehouse food bank. It provides emergency food parcels to individuals and families who find themselves in need of help due to illness, debts, benefit delays or homelessness.