Sheffield running club donates Christmas Puddings and beanies to local foodbanks and the homeless

A running club in Sheffield has made a generous donation to foodbanks and the homeless in Sheffield.

Every year, the Steel City Striders club donates Christmas puddings and beanie hats to local foodbanks and other causes in the city after the annual 10k Percy Pud race.

Runners in the popular race each get a hat and pudding for taking part but not everyone takes them home so the spares are donated to the less fortunate.

This year, because the race did not go ahead due to the weather, not everyone who entered the race collected their gifts.

So, instead, 370 Christmas puddings and hat bundles were given to initiatives like the S6Foodbank, Stannington Foodbank and the Salvation Army Charter Row Lighthouse, which provides 55 units of supported accommodation for men experiencing homeslessness.

Local initiatives like foodbanks are becoming more and more crucial as increasing numbers of families in Sheffield turn to them as cost of living crisis continues to tighten purses and wallets.

The S6Foodbank network, which is part of the Trussell Trust and operates numerous locations across Sheffield, saw a 30 per cent increase in the number of food parcels being handed out over the summer period between April and September 2023, compared to the six months immediately before.

Network boss Chris Hardy told The Star how foodbanks expect demand to drop over summer months, as utility bills become cheaper, making the increase in families using their service a surprise.

34,524 food parcels were handed out by the S6Foodbank network alone, with many more also handed out by foodbanks independent from their locations.