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After a week of posts from our 2018 charities, Me2 Club, Woodley Community First Responders and JAC - Just Around the Corner we end the week highlighting our final charity Woodley Food Bank.

Led by The Pilot Light Trust, Woodley Foodbank was set up in 2004 and collects donated non-perishable food items to be redistributed in food parcels to people in need in Woodley and the wider area.

From providing a parcel a week in its first year, Woodley Foodbank distributed 1200 parcels across Woodley, Earley, Winnersh, Shinfield and Twyford areas last year to families or individuals, who didn’t know how or when they could feed themselves.

The logistical brain behind the distribution of hundreds of food parcels is Jenny Vertigan, Woodley Foodbank coordinator. Jenny said, “the most rewarding part of my role as coordinator is when I tell someone about the work I am doing and I see the changing expressions on faces: from surprise that there even is a foodbank in Woodley, to interest that we are able to support people in a wider area than Woodley alone, to shock at the amount of support we provide and understanding about the vast range of reasons that people are accessing foodbanks.”

“Most churches in Woodley and more in Earley are regularly supporting our work, and come harvest time we receive generous support from many of the schools, too.”

Jenny and the team will be taking collections at their stand on carnival day. If you would like to make a donation of non-perishable, long-life items such as tinned or dried foods it will be gratefully received.

To collect a food parcel, turn up at Woodley Baptist Church between 9.30am and noon on weekdays. Deliveries can be requested by calling 07806 658 995.