A SWINDON charity donated piles of produce and tinned goods to help the town's food bank cope with a surge in demand.

Stock levels at the Swindon Food Collective struggled to support families during lockdown as demand had tripled since the pandemic hit our shores.

Sewa Day started a new project to supply nutritious and healthy food and fruit to the volunteers who had been getting by without any grants or financial aid - starting with a whopping 585kg donation.

The charities teamed up to load 38 trays of food into the collective's warehouse which will help stop some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in Swindon from going hungry.

Food Collective manager Cher Smith thanked the group for their support and the group promised to return with an even bigger stockpile in the near future.

South west England and Wales zone coordinator for Sewa Day Ashish Channawar said: "Sewa is a Sanskrit word which propagates the Hindu value of selfless service. We have been doing many Sewa projects and regular activities for many years in this area.

"During these difficult times of pandemic, our team of more than 200 volunteers across the zone has stepped up to help more and we have picked up many activities like helping elderly people and families in isolation with essential grocery shopping and pharmacy runs, and supplying hot food to frontline workers.

"We hope this will encourage many more people and groups to come forward and support our food banks."