170 food boxes have been provided to individuals and families living in Westbury and the surrounding villages by a Food Bank scheme set up by Westbury Town Council.
“We are receiving referrals from Wiltshire Council, White Horse Surgery and other partners identifying the most vulnerable in our community,” said Town Clerk, Deborah Urch. “Of the 170 food boxes, 96 are free boxes going to those vulnerable people using the kind donations from local food suppliers such as Morrisons, Cereal Partners UK and Aldi.
“We are also using the food that would have previously been donated to the community fridge from local supermarkets. Arla has promised us 80 packs of butter each week from tomorrow.
“We have received donations of food that we are diverting to the food bank in Warminster that benefits Westbury and the wider community. We have also received donations of cash from wonderful members of the public and we are using this money to plan our Operation Easter Surprise! More details about this next week.
“We so are overwhelmed by the goodwill in the town, what a wonderful Westbury it is.
“We are applying for grant funding as we hope to be able to reimburse the volunteers for the petrol they are using as we don’t want these individuals who are giving up so much of their time to be out of pocket.
“At the last count we had over 80 volunteers and this number is increasing every day.
“Our neighbourhood line is receiving approx. 20 calls each week but we are expecting this to increase as more people become aware of the service (01373 859669). We are working closely with the Westbury & District Link scheme to provide this facility.”
