Hope Centre awarded thousands by Government to feed Northamptonshire's needy

Food aid charities in the Midlands have received more than £636,000 in government funding to help those struggling to get food as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

Thirteen charities in the region have benefited from money from Defra’s Food Charities Grant Fund, with grants ranging from £30,000 for small charities to almost £100,000 for large organisations.

Since the fund was launched in May, 65 charities across England have been awarded more than £3.5 million, providing millions of meals to those in need.

The grants are designed to provide immediate support to charities helping to feed those suffering from the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak, including the elderly, those who have left home due to domestic abuse, or those who are struggling financially.

One of those charities was Northampton's Hope Centre who recieved £45,833.33. After visitng the Hope Centre's distribution warehouse last week in Dallington, the charities boss told the Chronicle & Echo that the money is used to source food on behalf of ten foodbanks across the county.

It comes as The Hope Food Club - a Hope Centre charity - turned its hand to deliveries while the pop-up shops were on pause.

At the beginning of lockdown volunteers started delivering to 40 households before it soared in its last week to 184 households in need of free food.

It is estimated that in the schemes peak, which ended on Friday, about 600 mouths were being fed a week and 250 of them were thought to be children.

This week Hope Food Club has restarted again in four locations. On Wednesday in Kings Heath and the town centre and on Friday in Blackthorn and Weston Favell.

Weston Favell Food Bank benefitted from the cash, too. From April 27 to July 1 they managed to feed 111 households, which equates to 1,427 adults and 1,263 children.

At their busiest peak the boss Anne Woodly and her volunteers were handing out 120 parcels every week and now it's 'stabalised, to 80.

She said: "That was the highest number we have seen. Children were at home a lot more and we had new people coming through the doors who lost their jobs. There was a percentage of hairdressers during that time.

"People were struggling to keep their businesses going and could not wait for the money to come through from the Government.

"But now we are in a good position where we have four to six weeks of stock in the food bank so we know that we can react if anything happens. Our volunteers have been amazing and I'm always telling the how inspiring they are. They come in every day and they just carry on."