Kettering charity to set up food bank delivery service

Kettering Community Unit (KCU) says tackling food poverty in towns and villages outside Kettering itself is one of the major challenges it faces.

A return ticket to Kettering on the bus from Desborough now costs £6.40 and KCU says many people simply don’t have the money to come into Kettering to pick up a food parcel.

KCU chief executive Paul Jackson said: “We would like to organise a regular emergency food parcel delivery service to the rural areas as a matter of urgency.

“Unfortunately, as a small charity, funds to achieve this are limited.

“We would need to organise transportation and drivers so are looking to fund this with the support of the community through the MyDonate site.”

The initial set-up of the service will cost in the region of £5,000.

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KCU also thanked everyone who donated a significant amount of food over the Christmas and new year period, with an ‘unprecedented’ level of donations.

Donations included tins of soup from Year 1 pupils at Rothwell Victoria infants school, with notes and drawings attached to bring a smile to the faces of those who received them.

Mr Jackson said: “We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of the people in our community.

“The level of donations has been unprecedented and enabled us to support a significant number of people, especially families, over the holiday period.

“We even worked with the police to ensure they had emergency food parcels available when everywhere else was closed.

“In the past 12 months we have supported nearly 3,000 people in food poverty and it looks like that figure will increase this year.”