Five food banks across Dorset are receiving help from a local housing association to tackle food poverty.

Magna Housing is helping the food banks across Dorset by donating £500 to each charity.

The housing association has donated to the Dorchester Food bank, Dorchester Community Kitchen, Lyme Regis Food Bank, Sherborne Food Bank and Weymouth Food Bank which are all run by volunteers.

Alice Bragg, head of customer experience and home services for Magna, said: “Food banks provide a much needed lifeline for people in the communities where Magna has homes, including some of our customers.

“As we all know, Christmas is an especially hard time of year for many people. While, of course, we’d rather we didn’t need food banks, we’re happy to continue our annual support to help make sure no one goes without the essentials this winter.”

Dorchester Food Bank, which operates out of the Dorford Centre on Bridport Road, was set up over 12 years ago to help people living in the DT1 and DT2 areas who are struggling financially and who are unable to put food on the table for themselves or their families.

Their food parcels contain enough non-perishable tinned and dried food for individuals and families for at least three days of healthy, balanced meals.

They also have a wide range of personal hygiene and household products on offer for people using the service.

The charity is extremely grateful for the donation as they find themselves having to spend thousands of pounds each week to keep up with demand.

Tracey Hughes, from Dorchester Food Bank, said: “We have certainly seen a huge increase in the number of clients seeking our support over the past year, and I’m sure that demand will increase still further.

“We are extremely grateful for Magna’s donation, which comes as we find ourselves regularly spending £2,500 or more every month in an effort to keep our shelves stocked.”

The food bank has seen an increase in referrals of 44% from October 2022 to September 2023 helping 1,661 adults and 854 children spending 25,000 which rose from 10,000 the previous year.

Food banks work closely with professionals such as social workers, health visitors, schools and Citizens Advice so that anyone who is in crisis, who has no food or money to buy food, can be issued with a food bank voucher.

These are then exchanged for a food parcel at a collection point find out more about Dorchester Food Bank online at https://dorchesterbc.org.uk/foodbank