Plea for help to fill "desperate" Calderdale charity's food bank shelves

Brighouse-based Focus4Hope has released a video appeal warning it is running low on goods for its food parcels.

In the video, Nicola Freemantle from the charity says they usually feed between 120 and 130 people every week but the footage shows their foodbank shelves are worryingly low-stocked.

"Through Covid-19 we applied for different funding that was there emergency-wise for people to get the funding to get food for people," she said. "That has run out. There is no funding for food available.

"We've now got to a point where Covid-19 is easing but people are still unemployed, people have debt, kids are on school holidays, people have lost jobs, people are furloughed still, the economy is all over the place and we are still feeding - 50 to 60 food parcels are going out a week so that's 120 or 130 people a week.

"We're really trying to continue to help these people and we so want to. We're doing everything that we can so that people are self sustainable so they don't need to rely on a food parcel but some do."

She added they have had to turn down some referrals from Calderdale Council because they do not have enough food to help.

She said the charity is "desperate" for people's support.

"These people still need help. These families won't survive without us and these kids will go hungry. We're their weekly lifelines sometimes.

"We are desperately, desperately struggling."

The charity needs food such as tinned goods, pasta, rice, tea and coffee. It has a collection point in Tesco in Brighouse or you can donate online at https://www.focus4hope.co.uk