Bristol Food Union hails hero volunteers from across city

Members of the public stepped in to help when the social enterprise struggled with sickness

A social enterprise that distributes food and care packages in Bristol said it has been saved by an army of "Christmas elves" after it was hit by Covid.

Bristol Food Union sends out hundreds of parcels to help families in need of "a bit of extra love" at Christmas.

But sickness and the threat of lockdown meant it had lost up to a third of its volunteers, placing deliveries at risk.

People have responded to a social media appeal in droves, volunteering to help.

Bristol Food Union delivers food and care packages to families and young people in the city who have recently left care

A reduction in Universal Credit, plus rising living costs, has left many families in need of a "little extra help", it said

The not-for-profit's chief executive Aine Morris said: "Between Covid and people wanting to quarantine to guarantee they could spend Christmas with their families, we recently lost about a third of our regular volunteers.

"Today for example I was meant to have 15 people on shift but four have just emailed in to say they have failed a lateral flow test.

"But Bristol has been amazing.

"We've had people coming forward to volunteer for us, thanks to a really strong social media campaign, and we even got a shout out on 6 Music.

"The volunteers really are my Christmas elves and I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone involved."

Bristol Food Union said it had received so much support it wanted to send out Christmas hampers every year

It started in March 2020 as an informal collective of independent restaurants and food producers, many of whom were on furlough, but who wanted to keep the city fed during the Covid crisis.

It has since grown into a non-profit social enterprise and expects to deliver 300 Christmas hampers to families in the city, 300 food boxes to recent care leavers for 16-21 year-olds, and 150 community hampers too.

Ms Morris said many people were struggling with the end of furlough, reduction in Universal Credit, and the rise in living costs.