Mother's pride as Redditch boy, 11, opens second food bank

A mother says she is proud of her 11-year-old son who has opened a second food bank in his town.

Isaac, from Redditch, Worcestershire, began his first food bank in 2020 on their driveway to help struggling families.

With demand growing from dozens of families each week, his mum Claire-Louise said he started a second on a nearby street.

"It's been incredible to watch the food bank grow," she said.

Isaac said he started the first food bank "to help people" and the reaction has been "very kind".

The initial site was a greenhouse on his parent's driveway and his mum said the generosity of the local community has helped him to expand.

"I laughed quite a lot when he first said he'd start one and I'm now eating my words continually, two years later," Claire-Louise said.

"It is very sad, the number of people we see needing to come to us and it's not just people on benefits, it's people who are working."

A van was given to them over the summer which his mum said allowed them to move more stock around.

A donation of a shed enabled the second food bank to start over Christmas and the town's mayor, councillor Ann Isherwood officially opened it for the family.

Claire-Louise said she and a team of 12 volunteers were kept busy picking up donations, managing their Facebook page and responding to messages seeking help.

"For Isaac, he's at school during the day but when he comes home, he's quite often meeting people, picking up donations, setting up new donation points," she said.

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