Poole food bank sets record helping people in need

The Christmas hampers include £70 worth of vouchers, chocolate, crackers and cheese

A food bank has set a new record for the number of parcels it has distributed as it prepares to give out its Christmas hampers.

Poole food bank gave out 32 parcels in less than three hours on Tuesday, it has boxed up the same number of festive hampers for the weekend.

The centre, which opens for three hours a morning four days a week, usually gives out about 15 parcels a day.

Demand has seen a 77% rise in users between January and October 2022.

Deputy manager Alan Purchase said it had been "incredibly busy".

Last year the food bank stopped putting turkeys in its Christmas hampers as "some people would say they couldn't cook one, so we started doing vouchers", Mr Purchase said.

Poole's food bank, based at St James' Church Centre, has had its busiest week on record

Instead the hampers include a £30 supermarket voucher, a £20 local toy store voucher and a £20 energy voucher "to either heat the home or cook dinner", he added.

The box also includes a ham, chocolates, crackers and cheese.

The charity, part of the Faithworks organisation, has also boxed up food parcels for the Poole and Bournemouth hospitals to ensure staff working over the weekend are not short of supplies.

Mr Purchase said people had still been "very generous" with donations, but the food bank needed tinned products including potatoes, ready meals and sandwich meat.

It also called for donations of cat and dog food, instant noodles and pasta.