Northampton food bank volunteers deliver to 170 households in poverty each week

The Hope Food Club - a Hope Centre charity - will recommence next week after a valiant effort by its volunteers who have been delivering free food to families in poverty throughout lockdown.

The club, which turned its hand to deliveries while the pop-up shops were on pause, started delivering to 40 households at the beginning of lockdown.

Now 184 households are on their list - which equates to 600 mouths, 250 of them are thought to be children.

Through a Government grant and public donations, Hope has also been sourcing food on behalf of ten food banks throughout the county.

It is from their huge scale Dallington warehouse where they distribute it all from and supply a further 1,500 people.

The project has taken on 12 extra volunteers to pack and deliver free, ambient and fresh food parcels five days a week.

"We've dramatically increased the volume of food that we collect and we are now distributors to other food banks and food projects," Robin Burgess said. "We've taken on extra fridge, freezers and vans to cope with demand.

"It's tonnes of food going out the door, vastly more. Our demand has gone up three times.

"Reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, people have been really grateful."

One of the volunteers at the warehouse is Jake Fountain.

The 20-year-old politics student at Manchester University has been packing boxes for one month. He said: "I'm a student and I was sat at home not doing much and I thought it would be much better to make use of my time than to sit at home.

"I have been doing this for about a month and I wouldn't be doing it full time if I didn't enjoy it.”

But there comes a time where the project, which is borrowing a van for deliveries, is no longer sustainable.

As of next week the free service will stop and the former pop-up supermarket scheme will continue in four locations. On Wednesday in Kings Heath and the town centre and on Friday in Blackthorn and Weston Favell.

The social supermarket gives people with low incomes and on benefits a chance to buy essential food items at a fraction of the cost so that families can free up their earnings for other bills and parts of their lives.

The scheme will allow residents to purchase food worth up to £60 a month for a subsidised rate of £10 to supplement their grocery shop. For more information on the shops, click here.