ABOUT 400 people in need in York are set to receive a bumper Christmas hamper this year.
John McGall runs the I am Reusable food bank in the Leeman Road area of the city and as previously reported by The Press, organised a bumper Christmas raffle this year.
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His food bank in a shed is open every day including Christmas Day from 10am to 5pm.
He said: "This year we are doing a Christmas hamper of food which includes a voucher for a meal.
"We are looking at doing this for about 400 plus people.
"We have also donated to schools and homeless hostels with hampers and presents.
"We would like to thank everybody who bought raffle tickets enabling us to fund our hampers.
"Thank you to all the businesses who have donated raffle prizes and all those who support the work we do in the community with donations everyday. Without their help we can't do the work we do.
"A very big thank you too to Stephen Tyler and the staff at Dunelm for their delivering Joy Christmas giving appeal and the general public for their support.
"Plus a thank you to all our volunteers who help me run I am reusable without their support from each and everyone we would not be able to pull this off.
"Our volunteers are amazing putting in so many hours to provide this free service for residents in York. I am so proud of each and everyone of them.
"Thank you for your email regarding Christmas at the food bank."
I am Reusable was initially set up to help those in need through the pandemic, including NHS staff. It has been inundated to the point that they have run out of food on several occasions.
As The Press reported in July last year John had to put in an application for retrospective planning permission despite spending the past 16 years dedicating his time voluntarily to helping improve the lives of the homeless, disabled and less fortunate people in York.
Crowd funding raised money to pay for the application which was granted a year ago by City of York Council.
At the time John said: “We can continue operating in our current residential location for up to two more years.
“We then have to look for an alternative location. We have to have weekly commercial waste bin collections and waste licences.
“The JustGiving money that was kindly donated has been spent on the planning application fee, and on getting the shed in a good condition to continue operating.
“We propose to also spend this money on the new costs which will occur as a condition of us staying open. These are weekly commercial waste pick ups and the relevant paperwork and licences required."
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