I can’t pay my own wages, says food bank founder

Lea Bevan said the food bank faced closure if it could not get financial help before the weekend

A Wellington food bank has said it faces closure if it cannot get financial help by the weekend.

NotJUST, formerly the Food Share Project, has been running for five years, and has more than 30 volunteers.

A meeting will be held on Friday to see if it can be saved, as maintenance and repair costs have skyrocketed since lockdown.

"I'm having to use the foodbank every single day to live. I’m in that situation and I run the organisation," said Lea Bevan, its founder.

The food bank operates by collecting surplus food from around the country, and distributing it to other organisations or to those in need locally.

It has three tiers - a free food bank service for people in crisis, a service that costs £3 per person, per family, and a shop which is open to the public.

The shop is what raises the funds to operate the entire business.

Founder Lea Bevan said the bank was about £3,000 per week short

Ms Bevan said the organisation was given funding during lockdown, but since then it has struggled with repair and maintenance costs for things like fridges and vans.

"We had seven vehicles at one point, and now we've got one, and that's off the road," said Ms Bevan.

"This week, we've had to close our food bank because we haven't got a van."

"We're basically running on a deficit of between £2,000-3,000 a week," she added.

'Exhausted'

The money issues are also affecting Ms Bevan's own situation.

"I'm a full time volunteer myself, I’m on universal credit," she told BBC Radio Shropshire.

"I've had to say that I’m being paid at work, put wages through at work, but not take them, because there isn’t enough money to take them."

"I’m exhausted," she added.

The meeting, which will be held on Friday at Meeting Point House, Southwater Square, is a last-ditch attempt to secure some funding to keep the doors open.

"We'll invite everybody who would possibly be interested in sponsoring us," said Ms Bevan.

"We'll invite councillors, all the mayors, everybody that's anybody that might be interested, or has a little pot of money."

"In three months time, we’ll be able to get out of this situation ourselves, but for the next 3 months we are about £3,000 a week short, so I need to fill that gap,” she added.

The meeting starts at 10:00 BST.