Foodbank finally returns after flood damage

The refurbished and redecorated Foodbank opens again following the flood on Boxing Day

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Rochdale Foodbank ha returned to its original location at 8 South Parade months after the premises were devastated by the Boxing Day flood.

After the building was devastated by water damage, the Foodbank moved to the Town Hall where it operated for the first few weeks before moving into nearby premises further down the South Parade.

On Monday 18 April it moved back to number 8, and is looking forward to operating as normal from now on.

Ian Wight said: “We have taken the opportunity of an enforced evacuation to carry out much-needed redecoration and we have carpeted our client area as the floor sustained most of the flood damage. So we will be returning to a fresh, smart looking building – we think our clients deserve the best we can offer.

“The numbers are not declining, we still regularly help around 300 families every month, and this has been the level for over three years now. Of course, they are not the same people all the time, some come to us two or three times in a year but the vast majority are new clients.

“Some stories are about benefit delays, but others are due to families on low incomes finding a sudden cost occurs that leaves them short, or just people having a run of bad luck with sickness or injuries that leave them without enough money for a little while.

“We truly value the immense commitment of Rochdale folk to keep giving us food every week. We still need 1000 kgs a week to meet the need, and while we may run short of some food items on a regular basis, we have always had enough good food to give to our hungry clients. We can never thank our anonymous donors enough.”