Stoke-on-Trent charity appeals for baby milk after panic buying

The Nappy Project said many families were already at "crisis point" and desperate for supplies

A charity supporting struggling young families said it was facing a huge demand due to panic buying amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Stoke-on-Trent-based Nappy Project supplies baby food, milk and other essentials to crisis-hit families.

Founder Hayley Jones has appealed for help and said it had run out of some supplies, including baby milk.

She said she had received 70 new referrals from as far away as Plymouth, Wrexham and Crewe in just a few hours.

The project was set up a little over 18 months ago and initially the volunteers worked with about 20 families.

Today it helps hundreds of families, mainly across the city, working from a church hall in Hanley and said it said demand was increasing.

"Since 02:00 to 10:30 GMT [on Thursday] we've had 70 new referrals," Ms Jones told the BBC.

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She said the charity had run out of some brands of baby milk.

"I'm seeing up to 45 people a day and yesterday we had 45 referrals in six hours. It's going through the roof," Ms Jones said.

"We're now getting national referrals. This is the first week of it, can you imagine if this carries on?

"If we order [baby milk] it can still take two days to get here and these families need it now. They're already at crisis point."

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