Special collection puts focus on Banbury Foodbank work

They were at Tesco on Friday, Saturday and Sunday to highlight the foodbank’s work and encourage shoppers to support their efforts.

The store off Ruscote Avenue is one of its regular donation points – others include the nearby Waitrose and Sainsbury’s in Oxford Road – and more than 90 per cent of food given out by the foodbank network is donated by the public.

With the growing cost-of-living crisis, foodbanks are facing a rising demand at the same time as people are finding it harder to give to the collections.

But the volunteers were on hand to encourage those who can still help.

The items the foodbank urgently needs at the moment are: tinned fruit, long-life juice, long-life milk, tinned vegetables and rice pudding.

It operates on a referral system, giving out emergency food parcels to people on several days a week, rotating between The Peoples Church, St Joseph’s Church and the Hardwick Centre at St Francis Church.

Its mission is clear: “We don’t think anyone in our community should have to face going hungry. That’s why we provide three days’ nutritionally balanced emergency food and support to local people who are referred to us in crisis.”

Further details can be found on its website, which has a regularly updated list of urgently needed items, plus how to support its work financially: banbury.foodbank.org.uk

The foodbank contact number is 01295 661304 but If you can’t afford food, you can call 0300 330 9037 to speak to Banbury Citizens Advice Bureau, a referral agency partner of Banbury Foodbank, about getting a voucher.