A foodbank in Harehills, Give A Gift, has seen a surge in demand for people needing their help due to the winter months now approaching.
Hana Agha, food hub coordinator, said: “We are seeing an increase in referrals on a daily basis, not just from our own clients but also from other organisations like soup kitchen and other school’s that we are supporting on a weekly basis. We try to do the best we can given that the funding could potentially finish as well so we are not sure what will happen after that.”
Give A Gift is one of the few foodbanks in Leeds that offers culturally appropriate foods bags to their clients as many of the people who use this foodbank are immigrants and asylum seekers.
Volunteer Shahana Hashmi has helped at Give A Gift for the past few years and has said “It’s really really rewarding work but also it opens your eyes to see how much poverty there is out there, what the need is and we found over the years that it has just gotten busier, and busier, and busier.”
The foodbank have also opened their doors to the clients and created a ‘Welcome Space’ which has been set up to encourage people to talk to one each other or even just offer a place of comfort and safety to relax.
Give A Gift recently received The Kings Award for helping the community. This award recognises the voluntary work that the foodbank does and is the equivalent of an MBE.
In the future the foodbank is hopeful that they will receive more funding so that they can continue to help the community.
