WARMINSTER and District Foodbank was set up in 2009 by Warminster Churches Together with a set up fee of £1,100 paid to the Trussel Trust by the URC in George Street.
Trustee and co-manager Jean Colgrave said, “We are now an independent community foodbank staffed entirely by trained volunteers covering Warminster, Westbury and all surrounding villages.
“The running of our foodbank is overseen by five trustees and a management team. We are registered with the Charity Commission in England and Wales to whom we submit an annual report and whose rules we follow.
“After starting in a garage, we now occupy our third set of premises in Dewey House, North Row, Warminster, for which we pay a commercial rent. We are totally self financing, with the occasional welcome grant and donations from outside bodies and individual supporters.
“Our foodbank is very well supported by our local communities who donate food items into our collection boxes in Warminster, Codford and Mere and our local food retailers, churches, schools and businesses.
“All food donated is pooled and processed according to food standard guidelines, for which we hold a 5 star rating, and distributed as required throughout our area by our local distributors in Westbury, Codford and Mere.
“To top up food donations, our foodbank purchases on average £500 of food per month. We have special provision for our homeless clients and have an out-of-hours service for emergency food provision.
“Since the outset of our foodbank we have supported the people of Westbury with weekly donations of food, working closely with Crosspoint as our distributor.
“With the closure of Crosspoint due to Covid, we have continued to distribute food to Westbury, Upton Scudamore, and Bratton as required, working closely with schools, health, community and social services e.g. from April to June 2020 supported 22 vulnerable families with weekly food bags.
“Warminster and District Foodbank Service has continued throughout the pandemic, distributing up to December 2020 24,00kg. of food to 2,855 people in need – a 30% increase in demand from 2019/20.
“This level of service would not have been possible without the continuing hard work of our amazing volunteers and the support of our local communities.
“To keep both our volunteers and clients safe, we strictly adhere to government social distancing guidelines. All requests for food are by telephone and email only. A food voucher outlining the client’s needs is completed remotely and food bags are delivered at a given time, with no direct contact between client and driver.
“Whatever the outcome of the present proposal to set up a foodbank in Westbury, Warminster and District Independent Community Foodbank will continue to distribute food and support to local people in need throughout our area.”
