Knowsley Council has shown support for Kirkby Foodbank, providing its key local partner with a £5,000 funding boost.
The funding will help Kirkby Foodbank – based at Northwood Chapel – provide food and essentials to continue to support those hardest hit by the cost of living crisis.
Like many other community food providers, Kirkby Foodbank has recently seen a fall in food donations as families face increasing pressure on their household budgets. This has resulted in the charity reducing its opening days from three days to two days per week.
The latest funding allocation from the Council, which covers the period June to the end of September 2023, enables Kirkby Foodbank to supplement its donated food with higher cost, nutritional tinned goods, such as meats and fish.
Since April, Knowsley Council has provided 18 community and voluntary sector organisations with £695,325 of support, as part of a wider multi-million pound offer to communities across the borough.
Cllr Jayne Aston, Knowsley’s Cabinet Member for Resources said: “The Council has made an ongoing commitment to tackle hardship issues across the Borough in line with the principle of Knowsley Better Together.
“We have worked in partnership with community and voluntary sector organisations as a means of providing food and essentials to our communities. This is particularly important given the current economic climate and cost of living crisis. Kirkby Foodbank provides vital support in the heart of Northwood, so we are delighted to support such a valued community provider with this funding.”
Pastor Graham Peel from Northwood Foodbank said: ’It’s really important that we’re able to provide the best range of food we can to the people who visit out foodbank and this funding means we can afford to offer higher quality, protein-rich food such as meat and fish.”
Kirkby Foodbank, Northwood Chapel, Bigdale Drive, Kirkby, is open on Thursdays from 4pm and Saturdays from 10am.