Community champions see the difference Fight Hunger funding makes to local foodbank

The Asda Fight Hunger Create Change initiative has paid for a new warehouse and equipment at Wirral Foodbank – so our community champions Helen-Louise Sestan-Burton and Ian Grant, who are both regular supporters of the foodbank, called in to see for themselves what a difference Asda's support is making.

Asda Bromborough and Arrowe Park community champions at Wirral foodbank — Richard with Ian and Helen-Louise

Centre manager Richard Roberts says the increased space and a weight pallet lifter paid for with Asda's support will save time when sorting donations, so the foodbank can help more people.

Richard said: "It's absolutely invaluable to have Asda on board and help us with the big costs we face that perhaps people aren't aware of. It's made a significant difference to us and will really help us, particularly over the very busy Christmas period.

Wirral foodbank volunteers — Foodbank volunteers are delighted with the new warehouse and equipment

"We already had two warehouses but, from our experiences last year, that's not sufficient to hold all the donations we get in at Christmas. We were overwhelmed by stock last year, when we received more than 30 tons in just three or four weeks, so badly needed additional space.

Volunteers at Wirral foodbank — Christmas is a very busy time for the foodbank

"This funding has enabled us to take over another warehouse within walking distance of our existing sites.

"We've also been able to purchase a weight pallet lifter, which lifts and accurately weighs stock. This is a great benefit to us because it means our volunteers don't have to weigh every individual crate that comes in.

New pallet weight lifter at Wirral foodbank — The new weight pallet lifter will save the volunteers time

"We have 15 centres across the Wirral and we're going to give out around 110 tons of food this year. We help around 13,000 people so it's a real logistical challenge to sort the food and get it out to the centres."

Several of our stores across the Wirral, including our Bromborough, Arrowe Park, Liscard and Birkenhead stores, have permanent collection points for Wirral Foodbank.

Helen-Louise, the community champion at our Bromborough store, said: "The whole idea of the Fight Hunger funding is that it's not just a sticking plaster – it will help organisations like Wirral Foodbank improve their infrastructure.

"We've helped this foodbank for several years and demand keeps growing year on year. We're always more than happy to help out in any way we can, and it's great that they've been helped out by the funding too."