Preston food bank's plea for donations as supplies plummet

Captain Dominic Eaton has urged people to donate what they can

A food bank is running low on supplies following a sharp drop in donations and a rocketing rise in demand.

Captain Dominic Eaton, who runs The Salvation Army centre in Preston, said the shelves had been looking "very bare" due to the cost of living crisis.

It follows warnings that many people on lower incomes will be forced to choose between paying for heating or food.

Mr Eaton said people are having to make tough choices as "the money that they have just doesn't go far enough".

"I was talking to one lady on Friday and she had received her universal credit for the month," he told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"She had put aside what she knew she needed to pay in bills and other expenses and was just looking at what was left and thinking 'how am I going to feed my family without having to use a food bank'."

Appeal for help

Mr Eaton said the empty shelves had been due to a combination of more people using the centre and fewer people donating.

"Normally on a Monday we would have shelves full of bags ready and packed but there was just a handful there last night," he said.

"We have seen referrals increase in the first quarter of this year and at the same time the donations that we would usually have expected to see have decreased."

He appealed for donations of long-life goods such as tinned vegetables, fruit, soup, meat as well as long-life milk.

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