Food bank says it is unable to help more families

Newhaven Baptist Church has closed its food bank to new families

A food bank in Newhaven will not be helping any further families as its stock and finances are running low.

The food bank has been operating out of Newhaven Baptist Church for the last decade.

It cannot afford to buy enough food to help new families due to price rises.

Mandy Ashenden, a volunteer for the food bank, said: “It does break our hearts. But we need to support the people that are already on our books."

Prior to Covid, Ms Ashenden said the food bank would give "about 20 bags of food out a week" but during lockdown "it really got very busy".

She said: "We thought it would die down again after Covid but then we had the cost of living crisis, so it just continued to grow.

"Our finances are getting quite low now and the stock that we had is really going down."

Newhaven Baptist Church also offers a warm space and washing facilities, which will all remain open.

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