EFFORTS to help starving people are being stepped up with the opening of a new foodbank in the Ribble Valley.

Churches in the borough have given food to 250 people between January and April.

Now a dedicated foodbank will be launched in Clitheroe, in partnership with the Trussel Trust, which also runs a facility in Blackburn.

The Lancashire Telegraph is also launching a major campaign to encourage readers to give donat-ions of food after it was revealed foodbank organisers had concerns that children receiving free school meals during term time would go hungry during the summer holidays.

The Clitheroe foodbank will open next Monday, July 8, at Trinity Church, in Parson Lane.

Organiser Ruth Haldane said: “There are people in Clitheroe, and the Ribble Valley as a whole, that are in desperate need of this foodbank.

“I wish that it did not exist and it would close the very day that there is no need, but there is a need right now.

“Any help that anybody can give will be much appreciated and I hope we can make a difference in people’s lives.

“There is a hidden need in Clitheroe, and the rest of the borough, which needs to be addressed.

“We want to address this problem as soon as we can and try to stop anybody in the area going hungry again.”

Ribble Valley councillor Terry Hill said that although it may come as a shock to some people that there was poverty in the borough, there were areas that needed help.

He said: “The perception of people who live outside the Ribble Valley is that it is really well off.

“It is shocking that people are in that condition anywhere, but in the Ribble Valley it is surprising.

“Despite the general picture that is painted of it, and the low unemployment, there are pockets of deprivation. If there is a need for it, then it can only be a good idea.”

YOUR CHANCE TO HELP

SCHOOLS, churches, businesses and individuals can donate non-perishable, in-date food to the foodbank.

Items suggested for donation include milk, fruit juice, pasta sauces, cereals, rice, pasta, tinned fruit, biscuits, sugar, soup and tinned meat and fish.

Sometimes, the Food Bank holds ‘Supermarket Collections’, this is when volunteers give shoppers a ‘foodbank shopping list’ and ask them to buy one item on the list to donate.

One of the official donation drop-off points is the main reception at the Lancashire Telegraph offices, in High Street, Blackburn.

On Friday and Saturday, Food Bank volunteers will be collecting at Tesco stores in Blackburn and Great Harwood.

Non-perishable food can also be taken to the food bank in Brunswick Street, Blackburn, on any Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, between 11am and 2pm.

Anyone who would like to help can contact 01254 672756.

HOW IT WORKS

TO gain help from Blackburn Foodbank, families and individuals need to be referred.

Frontline care professionals, such as doctors, health visitors, social workers, the Citizens Advice Bureau and police, identify the people most in need and issue them with a foodbank voucher.

They then take their voucher to a foodbank centre, where it can be redeemed for three days’ worth of emergency food.

The volunteers meet the clients over a cup of tea, or free hot meal, and are able to signpost people to agencies able to solve the longer-term problem.