A MAJOR £100,000 fund-raising bid to provide a three-day food lifeline for families hit hardest by the cost-of-living crisis has reached its target in just 10 weeks.
The fund-raising triumph saw Worcestershire Ambassadors work with local businesses, organisations and projects to ensure foodbanks across the county can offer a food parcel over Christmas to feed individuals and families in need.
And almost half of the six-figure sum – £48,000 – will be donated to Worcester’s foodbank in Lowesmoor while a further £14,000 is being handed to the lifeline in Malvern Hills.
The estimated cost of a three-day food parcel is £20 per person and £40 for a family and Ambassadors bosses say the cost ‘highlights the scale of those in need across Worcestershire’.
“Raising such a significant sum so quickly required an enormous effort and magnificent generosity from all over our county,” said Ambassadors chairman Vince Hopkins.
“We knew it was a very ambitious target but we wanted the foodbanks to have the funds available in time for Christmas.
“Due to the many impacts of the cost-of-living crisis, all foodbanks are seeing rapidly increasing demand and we therefore knew it was our duty to do our bit to help,” he added.
Ambassadors were joined by Worcestershire Community Foundation, the Chamber of Commerce and Lloyds Bank amongst many others to raise the significant amount which will enabling each foodbank to both bulk buy and plan the difficult festive period accordingly.
Contributions from knitted gonks to bucket collections at Kidderminster Harriers all formed part of the fund-raising effort.
Cheques were handed to representatives from each foodbank and to Trussell Trust area director Sarah Richards by Lord Lieutenant Patrick Holcroft, president of Worcestershire Ambassadors.
Neighbouring foodbanks in Droitwich Spa and in Kidderminster will stand to benefit to the tune of £9,000 and £18,000 respectively while the fund-raising to earn £11,000 for Redditch’s lifeline was reached in the early stages of the campaign.
Every Trussell Trust Foodbank in Worcestershire was offered support from the campaign with Kidderminster, Droitwich Spa, Malvern Hills, Redditch and Worcester being the five which chose to be involved in the Christmas Appeal.
The appeal benefited from numerous cash donations from companies and individuals and Ambassadors are still accepting donations through their website despite reaching their target.
“I will be publishing a detailed ‘Roll of Thanks’ on our website in due course and thank you to all who have given any amount. It has all helped feed those in need which was our campaign slogan,” Mr Hopkins added.
All the foodbanks are individual charities franchised through the Trussell Trust, which has a network of more than 1,300 foodbanks across Great Britain.
Their network is now providing 50 per cent more food parcels to people across the UK than before the pandemic.
Visit www.worcestershireambassadors.com for more.
