Brunswick campaign to support food bank

Centre manager Sue Anderson-Brown and Elaine Stephenson, operations manager, are pleased with the response..

‘Food bank Donation Stations’ are now placed around the shopping centre where shoppers can leave non-perishable items.

Supporters are being challenged to fill up the boxes with items the food bank urgently needs, which the charities will then come and collect.

Low income and host of problems are forcing unprecedented numbers of people to turn to food banks for a lifeline, with the local charity, The Rainbow Centre, seeing in excess of 35 food bank clients each day since January – about 20% more than the same time last year.

Trish Kinsella, The Rainbow Centre manager, said: “People always step up and give generously when we ask for help and we need their support more than ever.

“We predicted the delays and difficulties caused by Universal Credit would create enormous hardship for many people and sadly we’ve been proven right. It’s 23 years since we opened our doors and we’re busier than ever.

“This initiative with Brunswick could really make a difference to the number of local families we can help”

Major Stephen Noble, from the Salvation Army, added: “Poverty is a growing issue within the community of Scarborough.

“For many years we have had a heavy focus on the needs of men and women who are homeless.

“However, today we are stretched as we encounter children who are not being fed at home over a weekend and who are at high risk during summer holidays, this reality drives our provision of food through food bank, but also in providing hot meals for children, the elderly and the homeless on a weekly basis.”

Sue Anderson-Brown centre manager at Brunswick said: “We take our position at the heart of the local community very seriously and we are delighted to be able to step in and help.

“We have thousands of local shoppers come through our doors every week and we hope that by placing our specially designed donation stations on the mall will give extra visibility to the food bank’s appeal and encourage more people to donate.

“The food banks need supplies of all kinds, from beans to pasta and dog food to toiletries, the appeal aims to reach out and galvanise the local community to search through their food cupboards and larders and donate anything they have spare.”