Feeding our communities: How Magna are supporting local food banks
We are seeing how Coronavirus is putting extra strain on household finances. Food banks already support lots of families across the UK and the Coronavirus is causing more and more people to rely on food banks to feed themselves and their families. This includes many front line, key workers who are supporting our NHS and most vulnerable people right now. Magna Housing are committed to making a difference in our local area and supporting local communities is very much part of our ethos and culture.
In addition to our regular donations, we’ve committed a further £3,500 in the last week to help food banks in Dorset and Somerset continue to support local communities and provide essential basics to those who are relying on food banks. We want to make sure that at this time our local food banks can continue their great work and support even more people to get the food they need.
Tony Murray, housing director at Magna, said “At the moment many more families are concerned about making ends meet and have seen their incomes decline during the Coronavirus pandemic. Our local food banks do a fantastic job helping people in our local communities and we wanted to support them with additional funds to provide those vital essentials.”
We are supporting West Somerset Food Cupboard, The Quantock Food Bank, Dorchester Food Bank, Lyme Forward CIC, Sherborne Food Bank and a community food box initiative in Weymouth. We’ve also developed a list of community hubs and help groups in Dorset and Somerset. We update this regularly and publish it on our social media channels to help people know what support is available in their local community. https://www.magna.org.uk/my-community/coronavirus-community-networks/
The Trussell Trust support a nationwide network of over 1,200 food banks. If you need a food parcel because you’re unable to afford food, you can find your local food bank online at www.trusselltrust.org/get-help/find-a-foodbank . If you don’t need to rely on a food bank but are struggling to get to the shops because you are self-isolating, contact your local council or Citizens Advice for support.