'We are desperate for help so we can keep going': Telford support service in search for new base
A crisis support service for struggling residents says it desperately needs help - and has until the end of the month to find a new premises in order to keep going.
Telford’s Connect Aid and Food Share distributes cooked meals, fresh vegetables and fruit that supermarkets and suppliers cannot sell, to needy families.
The service collects items from across the West Midlands which it then distributes across Shropshire and Willenhall with the help of a small team of volunteer drivers and packers.
Since the Covid-19 lockdown, the volunteers have adjusted the operation so they can provide emergency outreach food and a meal service for between 70 to 100 isolated and vulnerable residents per day.
It does not charge a fee, but says service users can make a small donation if they wish when they call in to its temporary base at Park Lane Centre, in Woodside.
In April the not-for-profit project distributed food, including cooked meals, to 14,970 residents in 4,930 households; in May 11,595 residents; and in June 13,693 benefited.
Lea Beven, of the project said: "We are very busy. We are desperate for help so we can keep going. Now that lockdown is easing, the community centre needs the rooms back that we have been using and we have been given notice. We have until the end of the month to find somewhere.
"This means we will need somewhere big enough for a walk-in fridge and freezer and container size fridge and freezers moving forward.
"We are also in need of a bigger van with temperature chilled facilities as we have increased our delivery runs and our van is too tiny to cope with demand.
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"Even if someone can lend us a van for three months that will be a big help.
"We are also desperate for a commercial firm to help to remove our recycling cardboard waste. A company has been collecting the packaging for free, but have advised us that fees will need to be applied soon at a cost of £400 a week which we can't afford.
"We don't charge for our services. We have put up a sign at the collection centre which says if people wish to donate, they can. It costs £3 to feed a small family and £5 for a large family. Some people donate what they can in the tin. In reality we get pennies and an awful lot of Euro coins."
Since March the project has distributed 484 pallets of food to more than 40,000 people.
A crisis phone line is also open from 11am to 3pm daily on 07775 505434 for those who are isolating and in food poverty.
For more details and to contact the service visit https://www.facebook.com/foodshareproject/posts/3077332039012637?
Other distribution hubs are at Madeley Baptist Church on Saturdays; Donnington Hub car park, and Newport Shukers on Mondays; Millbrook Primary School, in Leegomery, on Tuesdays; Ironmaster Pub, in Broseley, on Wednesdays; Highley Parish Hall on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; Brookside Community Centre and Willenhall Fire Station near Walsall on Thursdays.
