Carolyn rallies street to help town foodbank
APENSIONER has been praised for going to extraordinary lengths to help people during lockdown.
Carolyn Franks literally went the extra mile to help the under-pressure Cheltenham Foodbank.
Realising she and others like her had not been able to get to their church to hand in donations for the foodbank, she decided to do something about it.
The widow, who lives in Salisbury Avenue in Warden Hill, walked up and down her long street and the adjoining Woodlands Road as well. She delivered a note she had written, asking residents if they had anything they could spare for the foodbank.
She was aware that it had been help- ing four times as many people as nor- mal because of the coronavirus pan- demic and wanted to do her bit to try to keep it well stocked.
Mrs Franks, who offered to collect the donations from people’s homes if necessary, was delighted when she got well over 200 items. They included packets of rice and pasta, sauces, beans, tins of fruit, soup and toiletries.
She said: “I was a bit dubious to begin with but then I was amazed by the response.
“I had people ringing me up and quite a few wanted me to go and collect things. There are quite a lot of elderly people here.”
Grateful for everyone’s help, she has put a thank you note through people’s doors.
The pensioner said there were many who were worse off than she was because of the pandemic and she was grateful to a neighbour for helping her with her shopping.
A spokesman for the foodbank said many other people in Cheltenham had helped in a similar way to Mrs Franks.
“We’re very fortunate to be supported so well by the people of the town,” he said.
Mrs Franks’ neighbour, Jane Keene, said: “Carolyn always thinks of ways in which she can help the community, this being just one example.”
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