MOST people in Wellington probably enjoyed a Christmas holiday of eating and drinking too much – but a small number of people in the town struggled to put a meal on the table.

Now into the New Year, that is where the town’s food bank, based at the United Reformed Church in Fore Street, steps in to help people in crisis.

Volunteer Christine Silverlight said very few of the people who turn to it for help are scroungers – she said most are on benefits whose payments have been delayed or whose benefits have changed.

She added: “Most people are genuine, they are just in need. I had a young single mum come in before Christmas with her four-year-old boy – she had missed an appointment at the job centre and it sanctioned her. It meant she wasn’t going to have any money coming in for three weeks and she had a child to feed, so it gave her a voucher for the food bank and she came here.

“Sometimes people don’t have any money on their meters, so they can’t cook their food. We had a client in the early days who was cooking his outside in the garden on a bonfire. I think he has sorted himself out now. You don’t realise the hardships some people have to go through.

“The benefits system has a lot to answer for, it fails many times. I have been in nearly in tears listening to people’s stories, your heart goes out to them, especially people with young children who are really struggling. It opens your eyes to the needs that are out there.”

The food bank also helps people on low income, often single parents. Sometimes, for example, they have a bill and cannot afford it as well as food, so they need the food bank. On other occasions it helps people who have lost a partner and are struggling to cope, and need a little extra support. Sometimes it is people who have a health problem and cannot work despite wanting to do so.

The food bank has been in Wellington two-and-a-half years and is run by the Trussell Trust, a Christian organisation. More than a dozen volunteers work in shifts of four – ‘two packing and two chatting’ on Monday and Thursday from 3pm to 4pm.

“Chatting to people is a very important part of it” Christine said. “You would be surprised how people open up when they are here, share their stories. It’s a safe place to be. Actually just coming through the door is difficult for some people. They feel so ashamed at having to ask for something as basic as food. People are sometimes in tears but once they are here they will quite often chat.”

Food is sent to the food bank in Wellington from its counterpart in Taunton, which acts as a depot as well as a distribution centre to clients. It is packed in boxes for different categories of clients – single people, couples, families (two adults, two children) and large families – and is aimed to last at least three days. All the items are non-perishable in tins or packets, not fresh food, and sometimes toiletries and pet food are provided. On other occasions it has helped someone who has come out of prison or homeless person with a tin opener or a plate, for example.

Clients need a voucher to use the service – the days the food bank is open coincides with the days the Citizens’ Advice Bureau operates in the town. Clients out of work and on benefits are also referred from Taunton Association for the Homeless in Mantle Street. Both of the town’s doctors’ surgeries also have vouchers, as do many of the churches, the children’s centre and Abbeyfield for elderly people. Emergency vouchers can also be issued at the food bank.

Donors have been very generous, especially over Christmas, among them the King’s Church in Wellington. It gave 81kg of food – all food is weighed in and out of the centre to ensure it is correctly accounted for – after a service over Christmas at which church-goers were asked to donate.

The food bank prefers donations to be made to the Taunton centre in Belvedere Road and would be especially grateful for tinned meat such as ham and corned beef, UHT milk and long life fruit juice, toiletries, washing detergent and pet food.

The recipients are always grateful – another volunteer told of a woman whose husband had been made redundant who went to the food bank. She said: “She turned up very embarrassed and came for two weeks before he found another job. Later she came back with a donation saying ‘you helped me out, now this can help someone else’.”