“We are really passionate about making sure no-one goes without” - Brighouse Central Foodbank helping those in need

The foodbank has been taking referrals on a daily basis, including at weekends and on Bank Holidays, with volunteers from Calderdale Council dropping off the parcels for them.

“We have helped, and continue to help, such a diverse range of people,” said Rebecca Snow, from the foodbank, “from elderly gentlemen living on their own with no family nearby to families whose children normally benefit from healthy school meals.

“We provide them with food parcels, which include tinned and packet foods and toiletries.

“We also run a drop-in session every Friday from 1pm to 3pm and have recently started providing St Andrew’s Infant and Junior Schools in Brighouse with eight large family bags and a double bag of food for families of pupils affected directly by COVID-19.

“We are really passionate about making sure no-one goes without this food at what already is a very difficult time.
“Those that we have helped have been so grateful on social media and really appreciative of the support we have been able to give them.

“We are always running low on tinned meats like meatballs, chilli, chicken in sauce and curry, UHT milk and weetabix.

“We have donation points in Tesco and Sainsbury’s Brighouse supermarkets. Any donation big or small is much appreciated.

“In the month of April we have provided more than double the amount of meals that we supplied in March due to the amount of referrals we are taking. This is understandably having a real impact on our stocks so any donation big or small is much appreciated.”

The foodbank was recently helped by West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service after being given a £1,500 donation from B&M Head office to spend in their Brighouse store.

Rebecca said: “We were over the moon to receive the email informing us that we were chosen to receive the donation but quickly realised we as a small team would struggle to move such a huge amount of stock by ourselves.
“We have worked with Rastrick Fire Station in the past as they have collected food parcels from us to be delivered and that’s where the idea to ask the fire service came from.
“We spoke to Gary Speak at their HQ who was really supportive and, after making sure we were able to follow all social distancing guidelines, we were given the go ahead.
“Someone from the service came down in a truck and met Tim Bagshaw, the B&M Store Manager and myself, and we got all the stock loaded in no time.
“We really are grateful to the fire service giving us a helping hand.”
If you would like to support Brighouse Central Foodbank, you can do so by emailing [email protected].

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