Panic buying leaves Black Country food banks in short supply

The Black Country Food Bank in Brierley Hill and the Good Shepherd in Wolverhampton are two of many services helping vulnerable people which are feeling the effects of the outbreak.

Black Country Food Bank chief executive Jen Coleman said two of the 23 drop-in centres for donations had been forced to close until further notice.

She also said the current trend for panic-buying had been having an effect on the donations at the centre.

She said: “Last week, we noticed a slight drop in donations and panic-buying has definitely had an effect on us.

“People are buying items we need like toilet paper, pasta and rice, which is really not helping us.”

Jen said the short term issues for the food bank were a continuing decrease of donations, which would lead to less food parcels being provided.

Good Shepherd operations manager Tom Hayden said the charity were following the situation from day-to-day.

He said: “We’re still planning and following information as it comes up before we decide what to do with the service.

“Homeless Link and Wolverhampton Voluntary Sector Council have been very helpful with advice and guidance and we are working on a contingency plan.”

The charity is a hub for homeless and vulnerable people across the city, with an overnight shelter for more than 20 people available. Tom spoke about the issues homeless people would face if they contracted coronavirus.

He said: “Our clients are very high risk as they sleep rough, so there’s a potential situation of where they can self-isolate if they have nowhere to go.”

The Good Shepherd is meeting with Wolverhampton Council in the next week to potential solutions and Tom said he hoped it would help set up a strategy.

He said: “We are balancing the risk right now and I hope this meeting will help us with managing that.

"It's all about getting it right for the most vulnerable people in the city."