Food bank set up to help Covid-hit families praises community cafe for generous donation
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Southwick Neighbourhood Youth Project (SNYP) runs a static food bank every Thursday where people in need can turn up without a referral and receive vital supplies.
Launched at the start of the first lockdown in 2020, the food bank on Southwick Road has become a vital lifeline for those in need.
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Hide AdOn Thursday, January 21, the charity was able to help even more struggling families, thanks to a £1,500 donation from Portico North CIC.
The Sunderland-based community cafe which offers support and workshops for people in the city, donated enough food to help 48 families in Southwick.
Teaming up with Southwick Primary School and Grange Park Primary School, the charity delivered food parcels to the doors of families in need who had children at the two schools.
Some of the parcels were also delivered to Grange Park Primary School for families to collect.
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Hide AdThanking Riki Tsang from Portico CIC and the two school heads for their support, SNYP volunteer Craig Bromfield said: “This donation has made a big difference.
"It is a beautiful thing to do but it is also sad that it is needed.
“We delivered some bags door to door and some people seemed on the verge of crying when they received theirs as it was a total surprise to them.
“The schools drew up a list of some of the families most in need and on it were people who had been furloughed, some who had lost their jobs totally and those who had fallen below the poverty line.
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Hide Ad"With it being a youth project we wanted to make sure the donations were centred around the kids and some of the kids came running to the door when we made deliveries."
SNYP is a charity that supports disadvantaged young people aged eight to 25, but it felt compelled to set up its food bank to meet the rising demand of people in need as the pandemic bites.
It relies on donations from FareShare, B&M and the public to keep operating. As many as 35 families accessed the service last week and a team of two staff members and three volunteers work hard to ensure everyone goes away with something.