A Basingstoke food bank is celebrating after forming a partnership with a supermarket depot in the town.
Sainsbury’s retail support centre in Houndmills is to supply Basingstoke Food Aid 4 U in YMCA centre, Eastrop, with unused stock.
The move comes as a relief for food bank founders Tracey Gauntlett, 30, and Martin Schroder ,34, who have seen an increase in demand.
Miss Gauntlett said: “The new agreement means that we can carry on giving and helping people in need. And this boost means that we can keep up the demand, which keeps on going up and up each week.
“We are supporting about 50 people and families a week and we keep having to go out to the shops and buying our new stock.”
At the beginning of December, the centre was seeing up to 20 people a week.
Ian Steggles, community and charity liaison manager for Sainsbury’s in Basingstoke, said he hoped the donation would help the scheme.
He said: “The team at the food bank are very passionate and keen in what they do. It is great to offer them something and give them a chance to keep going.
“We were looking to something close to home and help our community. We saw that there was a real need for what they are doing.”
The depot will supply goods that have fallen out of crates when moving through the depot.
Mr Steggles explained that the goods are normally in pristine condition, but will be sent to a ‘recovery area’, boxed up and donated at the end of each month.
He estimated the food bank would get between 100kg and 400kg of items in each delivery.
Last year the Houndsmill depot supported the Andover food bank and in eight-months donated more than 4.6 tonnes of goods.
The Eastrop food bank will take their first delivery at the end of March and the scheme will run for one year.
The food bank works with 30-plus partners who give vouchers to residents, letting them pick up a week’s supply of food. And in a bid to encourage more people to donate, the team has launched a colouring competition.
Youngsters will, for the price of a tin of food, have the chance to have their entries judged by Basingstoke MP Maria Miller in April.
For more information, visit www.basingstokefoodaid4u.com
