Northern Ireland food banks receive 'life-changing' £75,000 donations from Asda

Two food banks in Northern Ireland have received grants totalling more than £75,000 from the Asda Fight Hunger Create Change programme so they can do more to help people facing food insecurity.

Asda Fight Hunger Create Change at Larne Foodbank

Our chief operating officer Andy Murray joined our Larne store's community champion Catherine McCallion and store manager Stuart Legge to present Larne Foodbank with a donation of £16,833 to extend their warehouse. The money also means the food bank can start providing emergency food parcels to people in need.

Larne Foodbank's chairperson Joan Irwin said: "We can’t thank Asda enough for this generous donation, which will be truly life-changing and help us to feed more vulnerable people in our local community."

Our Cookstown store's community champion Janice Gibson visited the team at Magherafelt Foodbank to present a cheque worth £59,800.

The grant means they can hire four new part-time team members who will work alongside the current team to provide additional services for their clients.

Jenny Thompson, project manager at Magherafelt Foodbank, said: "We hope that one day there will be no need for a food bank in Magherafelt but, while our help is needed, we will ensure people referred to us get the best support possible.

"The generous Asda grant will make a real difference to how we work – this includes engaging new employees to start developing new projects to help support those in poverty that come to the food bank.

"Through the charity, Hope Magherafelt, the food bank in partnership with Christians Against Poverty is bringing hope into the lives of those in our community who are struggling – with support for issues ranging from food to free debt counselling."

The Asda Fight Hunger Create Change programme is donating more than £20 million over three years to the Trussell Trust and FareShare to support people out of food insecurity. As well as Larne and Magherafelt foodbanks, more than 90 foodbanks across the UK have already received grants from the programme. Find out more about Asda Fight Hunger Create Change here.