Staff at York-based Benenden Healthcare Society have been collecting items to donate to the new York Foodbank.

The bank, recently launched at the Gateway Centre in Acomb, aims to provide emergency food to people in crisis.

Staff at Benenden have been encouraged to buy one extra item in their weekly shop and donate it to the scheme, as part of the business’s volunteering and fundraising campaign focusing on Giving The Gift in the run-up to Christmas.

Nicola Taylor, communications co-ordinator at Benenden, said staff had been moved by recent media coverage around food poverty.

She said: “Our staff were keen to help out with this fantastic project and the donations have been filling up our boxes across the business. The food bank which has recently been launched in York is a hugely worthwhile cause and we are delighted to be able to support in this way”.

Caleb Ellwood, York Foodbank manager, said: “The staff and volunteers would like to thank all the staff at Benenden Healthcare for their generous donations of food to the Foodbank. They collectively gave just over 42kg of food, which will feed more than four people who find themselves in crisis situations.”