An Ipswich community plans to organise more pop-up food bank events after 50 families were supported during its first session.
Chantry Library has become a home to the new project that was initiated by the Chantry community to support local families struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.
The next pop-up food bank at Chantry Library will take place on Sunday, September 18.
The initiative has been supported by many local businesses that donated food essentials which will be allocated to local families struggling with the rising prices.
Councillor Jenny Smith, one of the food bank organisers, said: “On Chantry, we have a fantastic community who are willing to help others in need.
“Because of this, a local gentleman who runs the Chantry Facebook page contacted me, saying that he is getting more and more requests for help and asked if we could look into a food donation event.
“I said I was happy to help. A local charity offered to fund this. Once we advertised on the Facebook page the amount of food that we purchased, another gentleman who has his own landscaping company called PL Landscapes also made a large donation.
“With the present economic climate, we noticed that more and more residents are struggling to make ends meet and that this would make a difference to them.
“On the day of the event, as we arrived to set up, there were bags of shopping left outside for us to use.
“We had a selection of goods left over, which have been displayed in the library, and families are popping along and helping themselves.”
At the first pop up event, 50 families visited the library and collected food essentials.
Vicki Mann, the manager at Chantry Library, said: “Chantry is a very close-knit community, and the library works very closely with Cllr Smith and many other individuals and organisations for the benefit of local people.
“The local community Facebook group is also proving really helpful as a way of sharing ideas and appealing for help.
“We are very happy to be hosting and supporting the food bank events, which complement the children’s clothes swap we’re already running.
“We are already looking at ways to expand this to provide clothing for people of all ages.
“This is all part of the plans Suffolk Libraries is working on to help people during these tough times which will include all our libraries being welcoming warm places during the winter.”
The food bank initiative comes just after the announcement made by Suffolk Libraries offering 'warm banks' where people can go if they are struggling to pay rocketing energy bills to heat their homes.
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