A FOODBANK has received £3,000 in donations allowing it to cope with increased demands over the festive period.

A £1,000 grant has been given to Farnworth and Kearsley foodbank from Leeds Building Society which will pay for a fridge and improved warehouse storage, while £2,000 has been donated by individuals and local businesses.

It’s been a tough year for the foodbank as they’ve been broken into twice, alongside dealing with the challenges of the pandemic.

But one local firm has offered to pay for the installation of roller shutter doors to boost security at the donation point.

Foodbank manager Mark Whittington said: “While the majority of our food is non-perishable we do sometimes have fresh items which need to go in the fridge so we are grateful to receive the grant, which we applied for, to pay for this.

“The grant has also paid for some new racks in the warehouse, as 99 per cent of our donations are made by the public we store them in plastic crates so now we can store them in a more effective and efficient way.

“It’s important that we can continue to support so many local people in the community. We’ve seen an increase in demand in the past few weeks and we expect that to continue.

“December is always a busy period for us but this year more people are coming to us for help who wouldn’t have previously, such as those who are self-employed and on zero hour contracts.

“This year has been challenging not just because of covid, we have also been broken into twice.

“Yet we have seen an amazing response from the public. We’ve had a donation of £2,000 from individuals and business, and a local company have offered to pay for roller shutters to be installed.

“It is heartwarming to see this kind of response from the community.”