A big thank-you to everyone who generously answered our appeal in June for extra donations for the Food Hub’s depleted shelves…and yet with the school summer holidays very soon upon us, our stocks remain worryingly down.

Louise Willmer, our Stock Controller, says: “Stock levels are low, and although this has been a regular feature for this time of year since we started, we have had fewer donations this year since Christmas.

“Our client numbers are lower than they have been but the size of the families being referred to us is significantly higher.

“We are most grateful to our band of loyal supporters who have very generously donated considerable amounts of food recently, items on our monthly priority list. This has helped.

“It mustn’t be forgotten that we give stock on a weekly basis to our Food Stop partners in Purley and Monks Hill (Selsdon) to ensure they are viable and can support Food Hub clients moving on to independent shopping.

“Fortunately we are blessed with large money reserves which we are using now to help cover the donations shortfall.”

In July we are particularly asking for donations of 11 priority items, headed by cartons of long life whole milk, small or medium packs of tea bags, tinned meat meals especially hot dogs and meatballs, and tinned tomatoes.

Medium (500g) packets of breakfast cereals, small (500g) packets of sugar, and small bottles of squash are also needed.