Fears that food bank could run out of stock
Staff at Perth and Kinross Foodbank say there is a real danger they will run out of stock in the summer.
The food bank, which is based in Cutlog Vennel in the city centre, received an “overwhelming” amount of donations from members of the public in the run-up to Christmas.
Normally, the huge amount of Christmas donations lasts the food bank well into the next summer.
However, Eleanor Kelleher, project coordinator at Perth and Kinross Foodbank, said stock is being used up quicker than ever before.
She said: “Although we were given a huge amount of food at Christmas, we are running out quite quickly.
“We are eating into our stock far quicker this year than in previous years.
“There is such a difference in our stock levels already, and we are only into February.
“Normally our Christmas harvest will last us until the summer, but I am concerned we will run out of food quite early this year.
“We have quite a good balance in our warehouse, so when one thing runs out, a lot of things run out.
“There is an increased number of people we are feeding, so it is harder and harder to keep replenishing our stocks, so I am concerned about the level of food in our warehouse over the summer months.”
Tonnes of food was donated in the runup to Christmas 2019 - seven and a half tonnes alone was gathered during a threeday food drive in November in Tesco supermarkets in Perth and Blairgowrie alone.
Eleanor is now encouraging generous members of the public to consider holding a food drive in the summer rather than during the festive period.
She continued: “We are keen to see donations all year round.
“We get an overwhelming amount of donations over Christmas, and then it goes quiet again.
“People might want to consider doing a big collection in the summer rather than at Christmas, because we ended up spending thousands on food last summer.
“Hopefully people can resist the urge to do a collection for us just at Christmas, because people still need to eat food in the summer.”