Aylesbury Foodbank praises 'fantastic' response to 'crisis' but urges people to keep donating

Residents have rallied to support Aylesbury Foodbank since the not-for-profit organisation announced it was in 'crisis' on Monday (January 31).

Organisers have hailed the 'fantastic' response to Monday's plea, while cautioning more must be done to support the service.

Aylesbury Foodbank operations manager, Heather-Joy Garrett, told the Bucks Herald: "The response has been fantastic.

"It just needs to keep up. People of Aylesbury have been fantastic. I can't fault that and I can't say it often enough."

Donations have come in from major organisations, local businesses, schools and members of the Aylesbury community.

The total amount of food and resources donated is unknown at this time, as more stock keeps on coming in, before a count can be completed.

On Monday a foodbank spokesman said: "Dear Supporters we are suffering from a bit of a crisis at the foodbank.

"Everyone is being very generous with donations but sadly the demand for our food parcels has simply grown significantly in the last few months.

"Virtually everything on our list of food is low, except for Pasta. If you could donate any food for us we would be very grateful."

Until November last year, the foodbank had never served more than 602 people in one go, that number rose to 777 by the end of the month.

Exact numbers haven't been tallied for last month, but it is believed that more than 800 people needed the free food service.

More people are in need of support from a foodbank in Aylesbury due to the constant increase in cost of living and benefits reductions, Heather says.

Speaking to guests at the foodbank, those two factors have been key in more people coming to visit the Aylesbury centre.

Those who can help out are asked to keep providing: milk, fruit juice, and tinned fruit and vegetables.

Additional support from the community this week, has helped provide two more weeks of resources to the centre.

But the long-term stability of the foodbank is unclear, if the extra numbers becomes the norm.

Heather added: "We're doing in a month, more than what we did in a year [when the foodbank first opened]."

This means Christmas donations which are vital to the foodbank industry haven't stretched as far as in previous years.

The foodbank is on the lookout for more consistent, long-term support from providers both in terms of food and financial help.

Staff can be contacted on its Facebook page here.