Food bank to close as money runs out, operator confirms

A FOOD bank which serves many vulnerable residents in the Swinton area is to close later this month due to a funding crisis which has left staff who operate it with no other option.

Swinton Lock Activity Centre started running the facility ‘by accident’ when the Covid-19 pandemic struck and secured a three year funding deal from the National Lottery’s community fund, topped up with money from other sources.

Left to right are: Jayne Senior and therapy dog Bobby, volunteer Hannah Middleton-Sharpe and adult and family support officer Sam Roberts.

placeholder image — Left to right are: Jayne Senior and therapy dog Bobby, volunteer Hannah Middleton-Sharpe and adult and family support officer Sam Roberts.

That allowed them to make up hundreds of food parcels each week, costing up to £650 a week to prepare, but now the grant is coming to an end.

The food bank is different to most in that it offers ongoing support to those who need it, rather than short-term backing.

Many of its users have significant disabilities and health issues, some who are still affected by the child grooming scandal a decade ago, who have little prospect of seeing their circumstances change.

Staff are now working to try to ensure they can be directed towards alternative providers, though the difficulty is finding the open-ended support they need.

Swinton Lock Activity Centre manager Jayne Senior said: “Everybody’s circumstances are horrendous, but different.”

One client was aged 70s and living with terminal cancer, while caring for her brother who also had a terminal diagnosis, she said.

The food bank has been the largest single element of the activity centre’s work and its closure leaves a question-mark hanging over the future of a job there.

Jayne said they could not afford to continue the food bank relying on donations because if they did not meet the income needed to provide parcels, users would be let down.

“If we rely on donations and don’t get them, what about the people we feed?” she said.

Likewise, it was impossible to reduce numbers of people supported, because all had similarly desperate needs.

“I have had meeting after meeting after meeting to try,” she said.

Staff as well as food bank clients were upset, because they had got to know each other so well as the service developed, she said.

The service feeds around 230 people each week, with around 350 food bags distributed, as some clients have been supported with more than one bag each week.

Staff have also worked to offer support on topics like benefit claims for users.