"The people of Sheffield always come through" - food bank thanks city for helping feed families this Christmas

S6 Foodbank on Gilpin Street, Hillsborough, which has branches spread across the city, has raised roughly £30,000 over December so far towards its One Million Meals campaign.

Donations of money and food and hygiene products from people of Sheffield are increasingly vital as Sheffield’s foodbanks were busier this December than they have been for over a decade.

Chris Hardy, the manager of S6 food bank, said: “The reality is that last week everyone working at the foodbank site was ramming through stock.

"The volume of food and the volume of people using us is more than I have ever seen, and I have been here for 11 years.

“I have just put a £20,000 order in with Tesco for the new year. “We are low on stock, usually we have squirrelled some away for the new year but this year that hasn’t happened. All the food we have at the site right now will be gone by the second week of January.”

At least 3,000 people were given food parcels at the 11 sites across Sheffield last week – according to the Trussell Trust there has been a 108 per cent increase in foodbank use in Yorkshire from the 2014/15 – 2020/21 financial years.

Chris added: “Last week was the busiest week we have ever had on record by a country mile. I am looking at around 400 empty crates that went out across Sheffield today.

"I want to say a massive thank you to the people of Sheffield.

"It is an absolute privilege to run the food bank.

"We shouldn’t be here but the people of Sheffield always come through to support people they don’t know.

"We all need help at some point and it is great that people of Sheffield see that and put their hands in their pockets.

"Without those donations, people in Sheffield would definitely be going hungry this Christmas.

"Hopefully some time next year some of the families who are using us now will be in a job and donating to us.”

Residents in Walkley have also come up with a creative way to fundraise for the food bank.

People living on Boyce Street and Bransby Street have transformed their road into a collection of Quality Street sweets with an amazing colourful festive project.

The project was dreamed up by resident Kayleigh Thomas, because she could not find a way of putting Christmas lights outside her home.

Instead, she created giant model sweets, using fruit punnets, wire and see-through coloured paper, and decorated her house with those last year.

Her neighbours thought it looked great – so this year the whole street is at it.

Others living nearby have swapped donations of food for the food bank for a small bag of Quality Street while admiring the houses.

Over £100 has also already been pledged

To donate to S6’s One Million Meals campaign, which is backed by the Sheffield Telegraph, visit their JustGiving page online.