Leeds & Yorkshire Housing Association donates over £1,000 of food and household products to Leeds foodbanks
Leeds & Yorkshire Housing Association (LYHA), which manages 1,500 homes across Yorkshire, is delighted to donate over £1,000 of food and household products to Trussell Trust foodbanks in Leeds.
The early months of the year are traditionally a time when people struggle with debt following the expense of Christmas; plus, colder weather and higher heating costs place additional pressure on families already struggling to cover basic living costs, leading ever increasing numbers to seek out support from foodbanks.
The gifts of food and cash were kindly donated by staff and Board members. LYHA also created a ‘Reverse advent calendar’ with a different ‘item’ each day throughout December to encourage donations of the foodbanks’ most-needed staple products.
Mark Pearson, Interim Chief Executive at LYHA, comments: “We are delighted to support The Trussell Trust and the fantastic work they do in supporting people in local communities who are living in poverty. Our staff and Board members have been so generous with their donations and it was great to be able to drop off such a fantastic amount of provisions to help those in need. This donation is the latest in our continued support for our local Trussell Trust foodbanks over the last few years.”
Karen Burgon, Project Director of Leeds North and West Foodbank added: “No one in Leeds should need a foodbank’s help and we want to see an end to local people needing emergency food at all. But until that time, we’ll continue to provide vital support when it matters most and that has only been possible, in the last year, because of the incredible generosity shown by local people in donating food, time and funds. We are very grateful to our friends at Leeds and Yorkshire Housing Association for their support of the foodbank and its work with the large donation they collected for us.
Leeds North and West Foodbank has been providing emergency food and support to local people since 2013. A member of The Trussell Trust’s network, it has seen an increase in people needing their support increase by16.6% over the last year and believes the local increase is due to people struggling with benefit payments, low income and insecure work leading to an inability to meet living costs and debt. Between 1st April 2017 and 31st March 2018, 9,544
three-day emergency food supplies were provided to local people in crisis by Leeds North and West Foodbank, compared to 8185 in the previous year. Of this number, 3468 went to children.”
