New year, new appeal for Wolverhampton food bank
A charity has made a renewed appeal for donations of food as it prepares for a busy winter.
Excel Foodbank, which operates out of Excel Church, in Bilston, Wolverhampton, had a busy 2020, with more than 14,000 parcels sent out to families in need from March until the end of the year.
It reopened on Monday, with volunteers working in a Covid-safe environment to put together food parcels from existing donations.
Food bank coordinator John Raj said he expected the next few months to be extremely busy.
“We are anticipating being as busy as we were in the very first lockdown last year, if the last two days have been anything to go by,” he said.
“We’ve had to set up another room in the church after we heard about the new lockdown, so we have two operation centres within our church, just to cope with the extra stock we have been getting.
“We’ve had a few days of Christmas break and now we’re looking to go ahead and make sure we can do the best for our team and to help as many people as possible.”
The food bank has been operating a collection service outside, so that anyone needing to access the service can do so without going inside the church.
Mr Raj said he hoped the public would be able to continue supporting the service and help the most vulnerable in the community.
The food bank’s work has been endorsed by Essington Councillor, Beverley Momenabadi, who volunteers at the charity and spoke about its importance at this time.
She said: “With the announcement of the national lockdown, we know that local families are going to be hit with hidden costs as they adapt to working and schooling at home.”
Excel Foodbank is open each Monday for food parcels, with booking essential.
The service can be contacted on 01902 402273 or foodbank@excelchurch.org.uk
