Guide Bridge MOT helps to drive up funds for Tameside East Food Bank

Tameside East Food Bank unwrapped an early Christmas present from a local business last week when they were presented with a cheque.

In an event at the New Life Church, Hall Street, Ashton, they were given £1,422 last Thursday by the team at Guide Bridge MOT Centre in Audenshaw. 

The garage is a member of the Masterserve Foundation that pools a part of their bill value from the year and donate it to charities. The team at Guide Bridge nominated Tameside East Food Bank after seeing the important work they do in the community.

After such a challenging year, where the food bank has helped more than 6,000 people and donated more than 56 tonnes of food, the charity says the help is more appreciated than ever. 

Heather Shepherd, food bank co-ordinator, said: “The money will help us with meeting demand. Obviously, this year has been our busiest ever.

“Most of what we hand out has been donated, but sometimes we have to top that up with things we have to buy. The money could go towards that or towards buying more crates.

“Over the next few months there’s uncertainty about food supply so we might see a drop in donations. 

“It’ll definitely be used towards food and the storing of food over the next few months.” 

Despite the events of this year, Heather says that the support from the public has been greater than she could ever have imagined.

Schools, businesses and individuals all stepped up to ensure that those who needed extra help through the pandemic didn’t go without food. 

Heather explained: “We’ve seen a massive increase this year for demand but also for donations.

“Back in March panic buying was a huge problem. We weren’t able to buy in bulk but we’ve got contacts who managed to get us stock again. However, we’re going to have to scale back with Brexit looming. We’re grateful for everyone who has supported us this year.”

Earlier this year the Reporter helped Tameside East Food Bank broadcast an appeal to find a larger warehouse, and Heather says the search continues. 

She said: “We need a new warehouse so we’ve got more space. We’ve had the current warehouse which has been great but now we need bigger. That’s our next step. We’ve not managed to find anything that has been suitable so far.

“We’d like to say a massive thank you to everyone that has donated or has got in touch. Lots of people have wanted to volunteer but we’ve had to keep the team small due to social distancing. That means we’ve not been able to accommodate them, but we’re very grateful.

“Hopefully in the new year we can have some more volunteers on board.”

Main image:

GENEROUS: Jan Lord at Guide Bridge MOT (second from right) presents the cheque.