DECEMBER proved to be the busiest month of the year for Bournemouth Foodbank but staff are asking residents to continue the generosity shown during the Christmas period as fears grow over meeting heightened demands.

A total of 528 people were fed last month across the food bank’s six centres, up from 469 and 374 people in November and October respectively.

In addition, a co-ordinated Christmas appeal delivered more than 200 food hampers to 592 people from families referred by various agencies and church groups. The equivalent of around 12,600 meals were delivered to people’s doorsteps by a fleet of 59 drivers in one day.

Decorated by the Student Union at Bournemouth University and packed by volunteers from Nationwide on Richmond Hill, the hampers provided a variety of food, including fresh and frozen produce thanks to a generous grant donation of £2,000.

Donations to the food bank were also high over December, with 10.7 tonnes of food being given in.

Volunteers are still processing these donations and it is hoped they will last through the summer months when demand peaks.

Ed Briggs, warehouse manager at Bournemouth Foodbank, said: “The summer is usually when we get the most clients and the main reason for this is because of school meals not being available during the holidays and families start to feel increased pressures.

“This coincides with our dry patch in terms of donations. That is when we do struggle.

“We always need our ‘Three Fs’, which are food, finance and feet – it’s our life blood.

“It does cost money for us to operate and we are not able to sort out the donations we receive without the small army of volunteers who generously give their time.

“Over Christmas the generosity people showed was amazing and we are always so grateful for the support we receive.”

Mr Briggs said Christmas is not the busiest time in terms of clients coming directly to the food bank for help as at this time of year they find help from a variety of other agencies, which he said is a positive.

Going forward the food bank is continually reviewing the number of clients to consider any impacting factors in a need for support.

“What we are expecting is a correlation between Universal Credit being rolled out at the end of November and an increase in people coming to us.

“We will not be able to judge this for a few months when we have a clearer picture on that, but it is what we anticipate and what food banks across other parts of the country have found.”

To help provide a balanced diet Ed said the food bank’s biggest needs in terms of donations currently are fruit juice (long life), milk (UHT/powdered), tinned fruit and vegetables, sauce for pasta, tea bags, tinned fish and tinned custard/rice pudding.