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Bromsgrove charity sees Christmas food parcel demand double

BBC Marina Keegan-Price and Jerry Robinson from the Basement ProjectBBC
Marina Keegan-Price and Jerry Robinson from the Basement Project have appealed for donations

A food bank is appealing for donations for its Christmas hampers after seeing requests for help nearly double compared to last year.

The Basement Project, in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, supports young people through difficulties.

For Christmas 2021, it made 269 food parcels, but operations manager Marina Keegan-Price said requests this year had already passed 500.

"People really are struggling," she said.

The charity also works with local schools to see whether it can assist some of the more vulnerable pupils and their families.

One school came back and requested 160 food parcels which, Ms Keegan-Price told BBC Hereford and Worcester, was "unheard of".

"What they have been telling me is families that previously haven't struggled are now in the position that they are choosing between paying their energy costs or getting those little extras for Christmas, feeding their family," she explained.

Inside their food bank
Families which did not struggle before have started to turn to the charity for help, Ms Keegan-Price said

The charity has a team of 30 volunteers and has appealed for donations, especially of Christmas foodstuffs.

Ms Keegan-Price recounted the experience of one service user, saying: "She was really emotional because this time last year she was donating food to us and now she is in a position where she has to come to us for food."

The charity said donations for its Christmas hampers should be made by Friday to the base on Hanover Street and any received thereafter would still be used for regular parcels.

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