Volunteers to gather food to help needy

WITH the number of families reliant on foodbanks continuing to rise, volunteers have taken it upon themselves to help.

Working with the charity vInspired, a team of six will brave the cold to collect food donations outside Sainsbury’s supermarket in Ruislip from 2pm to 8pm tomorrow (Thursday).

They hope to collect up to 300 non-perishable items from shoppers at the Long Drive store, all of which will go to Hillingdon Foodbank, which runs five centres in the borough.

Organiser Lindsay McDougall, of Abbotsbury Gardens, Eastcote, said: “It is quite shocking, I think, that since 2011 the number of people using foodbanks has increased by 610 per cent. I think that’s a crazy statistic for the sixth richest country in the world.

“They are choosing between either eating or heating. For me it’s not even a concept I can understand.”

Former Haydon School pupil Miss McDougall, 23, will also be handing out leaflets on the day, together with the other volunteers, who include learners from Choices 4 All, a charity that works with people with learning difficulties and other disabilities.

Miss McDougall will later give a presentation at the charity’s learning centre, in Pinner Road, Harrow, encouraging other students to come up with their own campaigns to help tackle food poverty.

She said: “It’s important for people to engage with their local community and things that are going on within their area, as well as national and international causes.”

More than 900,000 children and adults used foodbanks in 2013-14, up from around 350,000 the year before, according to the latest figures from the Trussell Trust, a charity that runs foodbanks across the country.

Hillingdon Foodbank, which is run by the same organisation, has foodbanks in Uxbridge, Hayes, Northwood and West Drayton.

For more information about tomorrow’s food drive, email lindsay.mcdougall@vinspired.com