Colchester Foodbank opens new warehouse

12 July 2019, 08:25 | Updated: 12 July 2019, 08:30

Colchester Foodbank has opened a new warehouse in Langham - to help it cope with the ever-increasing demand for support.

It's marking ten years in the borough, despite organisers originally hoping it would only be needed for two or three years.

Volunteer and trustree Julie Rusiecki told Heart the fact the foodbank has now been around for so long is "heartbreaking".

"99 per cent of the people who come through our doors just make you want to cry," she said.

"And they're such lovely people - and so grateful."

From a handful of clients when Colchester Foodbank first opened in 2009 - that number has grown to more than 6,500 in 2017-18.

The largest increase was 888 following the roll-out of Universal Credit, with one in three of those in crisis being children.

The new warehouse will enable the team to store and distribute even more food to those local people that rely heavily on its services.