Coronavirus: 'Struggling' Bridgnorth food bank thanks public for kind donations
After weeks of struggling to gather supplies, Bridgnorth Food Bank has been "overwhelmed" with the generosity of residents and businesses coming to its aid.
Organisers of the service on West Castle Street appealed for the public's help last week after having problems sourcing food and other essential items.
But after scores of people came to its aid, the food bank now has enough resources to support those in need for the short-term future.
Liz Bird, food bank manager, said: "Coronavirus has slowed down the operation, but one of the stand-out things has been the generosity of people, which has been amazing.
"Whether it be gifts of money from people that can't add items into donation trolleys or people coming to deliver it themselves, our food has increased – this week was amazing compared to last week.
"Because people are self-isolating we were really struggling. We usually have to buy more than what we get donated and we ordered 300 items from the supermarket, but only got 80 due to restrictions on certain items and they hadn't recognised we're a food bank."
The food bank also provides other services to people in need, but due to social distancing, the usual offer of support has been increasingly difficult to deliver.
Mrs Bird said: "We're only having one person in the building at a time. They wash their hands, get the fresh food, collect their list and then go into the main church next door where their parcels are already made up.
"But we can't offer them tea and coffee, we can't sit and listen to their problems, or be a shoulder to cry on – that's something that's been incredibly difficult for us."
Despite the majority of volunteers being unable to help due to being classed as vulnerable, other members of the public have given up their time to help the food bank, including delivering food to those that may not be able to leave their home.
This week, the service helped 15 families, six couples, 14 individuals and four emergency cases.
"It's been great in that other people have stepped up to the plate," Mrs Bird added. "We've got five drivers delivering parcels for us and we've had so many people offer to help there's a couple we've had to turn away as we can only have so many in a room at once."
People can deliver supplies to the food bank on Mondays from 9am, before the doors open to those in need at 10.30am.
