Calpe food bank closes

CALPE town hall’s food bank has finally pulled down the shutters after eight years of feeding struggling families - including British expats.

Run by social services and occupying premises at the municipal sports centre, the food bank opened its doors in 2012 at the height of the recession.

Along with similar food banks operated by Catholic charity Cáritas and the Red Cross in the town, it was supported by a number of expat charities and individuals.

The council food bank was the brainchild of ex-mayor César Sánchez - now a national deputy in Madrid - who saw it as a way to support those most in need and ease the burden on the two other aid projects.

Ongoing help will be provided via the ‘solidarity committee’ in Calpe, and social serHowever, vices welfare officers will coordinate activity to avoid duplications and aim to improve the quality of interventions when needed ‘to protect the most vulnerable’.

The town hall had decided to wind it down from the start of the year but the Covid-19 pandemic and Spain’s state of emergency halted the plan, so instead it continued to help put basic food on tables.

Mayor Ana Sala said the food bank had completed its journey: “This service has helped many people and I want to thank the people who started it, such as César Sánchez and fellow councillors of the legislature for the implementation of the project.

“I don’t want to forget the municipal officers who carried out their work in this service and all the people who collaborated with it to help others.”

closure of the service is controversial and according to a town hall insider the move was sparked by it being branded ‘illegal’ in a report.

Costa Blanca News was told: “But it seems to be perfectly legal to have a local authority food bank in Madrid or Valencia. Reports were very positive early on when the food bank was helping people who could not access Cáritas or the Red Cross - it has helped thousands of people since it opened, many of them British families facing hard times.”

CBNews was told a meeting of social workers in the Marina Alta spelled the end of the food bank when they voted town halls should not run food banks. “Yet town halls in the Marina Baja have them, La Nucia has run a food bank for 15 years!”