Tonnes of thanks

Foodbank volunteers Margaret Wight and Mo Evenson with around 1/3 of the harvest donations

There has been a collective sigh of both relief and gratitude at Rochdale Foodbank following Harvest donations from schools, churches, mosques and individuals. With one or two harvests still to come in, Rochdale Foodbank has weighed in over 7.5 tonnes of food – the same as around 3,750 bags of sugar.

“These donations are the life blood of the foodbank,” said Iain Wight, Chairman of Trustees. “Without them we would not survive. We are constantly overwhelmed and often moved to tears by the generosity of our local people. We cannot say a big enough thank you to everyone, particularly children, who have given even the smallest tin, or packet of food, to help someone in our town who is going through a crisis.”

As the foodbank comes up to its third anniversary, Mr Wight reflected on the extraordinary fact that the foodbank has fed over 22,000 people during that time; over 10,000 clients have come through the doors of the foodbank with a red voucher, and there has been enough food to feed them all, when they needed it.

“We have been given over 150 tonnes of food since we began in 2012 – worth over £250,000 – we could never have raised that sort of money ourselves."