Manchester Central food bank are asking for donations to help build a new £13,000 warehouse to store food and other vital supplies.
Due to the rising demand in the local community, the requirements of the food bank have far outgrown the size of the current on-site storage facility.
Ellie Livermore, a marketing and events volunteer at the food bank, spoke to MM about the importance of a new warehouse.
She said: “At the moment, we rent a warehouse and not only is it expensive, but it is far away.
“We are seeing an increase in the number of families needing to access our Foodbank, particularly people in very difficult and complicated situations.”
As well as offering the basics such as food parcels, the food bank want to be able to expand and cater for other needs.
Ms Livermore said: “We get a lot of mums with young babies and we’d love nothing more than to be able to offer them a bit more than the basic food and give them nappies and maybe a new toy.
“At the moment, our store room is so small that we can’t really take extra like these, so the warehouse will help massively with this.”
With the increased use of the food banks, the team want to ensure they are fully prepared every day.
The warehouse will save the Foodbank up to £3,000 annually and save essential volunteer time as there will be no need to travel to an off-site storage space.
Ms Livermore added: “We are hoping that with the time and money saved by having the new warehouse, we can invest in providing training for volunteers so we can become more than just food.
“Some days we get two people in, sometimes we have 30, so it really important we have plenty available at all times.”
You can donate to the Manchester Central food bank warehouse fund by clicking here.
Image courtesy of Staffs.Live via Flickr, with thanks.
