A NEW ‘one-stop’ shop for Ilkley Food Bank within All Saints Church is one step closer after members of the Rotary Club of Ilkley Wharfedale gave up their time to put up new shelving.

Ilkley Food Bank was first up on May 7, 2013 under the auspices of CTI (Churches Together, Ilkley) and is run by a committed volunteer team headed by Jane Wearing and Sandra Dexter. Beneficiaries are referred through agencies such as the Citizens Advice Bureau, GP practices and other healthcare professionals, Job Centres and churches. Currently the client list consists of seven families and 17 single people all of whom are on a very low income for a number of reasons, such as job loss, losing benefits, needing help following the introduction of Universal Credit or having just had a series of very unlucky circumstances.

Storage of food donations is currently based at Booths supermarket in Ilkley, from where food parcels are put together and delivered out to clients. There are five collection points for donations (at Booths, Tesco, Co-Op Bolton Bridge Road, Springs Lane Medical Centre & All Saints church) and the Food Bank currently has 32 volunteers.

The Food Bank receives no specific regular funding although donations have been received in the past from Burley Festival and Menston Methodist Church.

It was recently decided that the Food Bank would benefit from moving to one dedicated premises where food could be stored and distributed – essentially a ‘one-stop shop’. All Saints Parish Church kindly offered one of their rooms for this purpose and Ilkley Town Council donated £800 towards shelving for the new premises. Members of the Rotary Club of Ilkley Wharfedale gave of their time to erect the shelves, ably guided by Jane and Sandra. Jane said: “Sandra and I would like to thank everyone that is helping us in this new phase in the life of the Food Bank – all our regular volunteers; Ilkley Town Council for their very generous donation; Booths who have supported us for many years with food storage; the Rotarians, particularly Councillor Peter Mate, who has shown us some fantastic support in getting the new shelving in place; and of course all the generous people of Ilkley who donate food week in, week out. The “One-Stop Shop” is one step closer to becoming a reality and we are very excited for the future!”