Glossopdale Foodbank prepares for a busy Christmas time

The manager of Glossopdale Foodbank has warned they are facing a busy Christmas as the cost of living crisis continues to bite.

Liz Kearslake, who has been in the role for nearly a year, said: "It’s certainly been a busy couple of months.

"We have continued to be supported by the food collections from various supermarkets, individuals and businesses, and more recently from schools and churches at their annual harvest festivals, so a heartfelt thankyou to you all!’ 
 
"This is a difficult time for everyone and the Foodbank is no exception, especially now that we are having to find extra monies to pay rent to Derbyshire County Council for the lockup in which we store the food, which until now has been rent free.

"So we’ve also been very active in reaching out to people, firstly with new leaflets explaining what we do and how to get in touch with us, as well as information on other organisations such as the Citizens Advice Bureau, where  locals can get advice on personal matters."

On November 28, 29 and 30 volunteers will be collecting food donations from shoppers at Glossop Tesco.

She said: "This is a particularly important extra collection and we are very grateful to Tesco’s for allowing us this collection point, as it helps boost our stock to help people in the coming cold winter months.
 
"We have also had to relocate two of our collection points from which people can collect food parcels.

"As Hadfield Children’s Centre has now closed down , the collection point has moved to Hadfield Cricket Club on Monday and Thursday mornings between 10am and 11am.

"And due to staff redundancies at the Childrens Centre on Victoria Street, we can no longer use these premises and have had to rent a room at the local Labour club on Chapel Street on Tuesday and Friday mornings between 10am and 11am. 
 
‘Then there is the Tombola Stall that we have on Old Glossop’s Christmas market on Sunday, December 1, which is always a really happy event." 

In addition to the above the foodbank will also be running its Reverse Advent Calendar again this year to boost Christmas supplies.

You don’t open a flap and pull out a chocolate with the Glossopdale Foodbank Version! Instead, you collect store cupboard food items and place an item in a box every day for four weeks. When the four weeks are over then take the goodies to Glossopdale Foodbank’s Collection points.