LEADERS at a well-used foodbank are aiming to continue the service to help those in need.
Goldthorpe Salvation Army, on Straight Lane, has been a fixture of the village for 150 years and has no plans to stop its services despite the global pandemic.
Each Monday they run a foodbank which helps to provide food and necessities to those struggling to afford food.
Now, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, territorial envoy, Alison Sykes said the foodbank will continue ‘as long as people need our services’.
“We have had to change how we do things,” said Alison. “We’ve made it that the service users will need to have an appointment to access the food bank to keep to the social distancing guidelines.
“We have hand sanitiser for people to use and we are trying to keep things as safe as possible.”
Donations to the foodbank have dwindled but the team are trying to provide the service users with healthy food instead of junk food alternatives.
“We are running low on some necessities such as tea and coffee, sugar, long-life milk but we are still keeping going.
“We try to provide everyone who access the foodbank with healthy food so that they aren’t having a lot of junk food.
“I think that’s especially important now because people have got to keep as healthy as they can and eating well is a big part of that.”
A fundraising page has been created by the team to help raise funds to pay for food for the foodbank.
“We would normally be asking for food donations,” said Alison. “But during this time we understand that people need to look after themselves so we are raising money so we can buy food in to give to those who may not be able to afford it.
“We’ve been batch-cooking any surplus vegetables we have which we are also giving away so nothing is wasted. The local supermarkets have been great with us and have given what they can which really goes a long way.”
To donate visit justgiving.com and search ‘Goldthorpe Community Church Foodbank’.
