THE Ebbw Vale food bank has given out more than 14 tonnes of goods, which equates to £24,000 worth of food, to needy people in Blaenau Gwent.

It has proved hugely successful since opening in 2008 and, after a Blackwood initiative started last year, a third Gwent operation, in Risca, is set to begin helping people next month.

Project manager Adrian Curtis said: “There are now14 food banks operating around Wales and we expect to get busier and busier because of the economic climate.”

Families that receive support include those who have had delays in receiving benefits, victims of domestic violence and those surviving on the poverty line.

The Ebbw Vale operation at Beech Grove was the template for the rest of Wales. It is run by Festival Church Trust and collects donations of food from churches, harvest festivals in schools and volunteers who collect outside supermarkets.

In its three years, it has helped 2,400 people by giving them food parcels, some 14 tonnes of food, worth about £24,000.

An operation at the Tab Life Centre, Pontllanfraith, started helping in the Blackwood area in April last year and has so far distributed around 500 food parcels – around £5,000 worth of food.

A Risca food bank will now start operating through the Salvation Army in the town.

It opens its doors on July 4, with 10 volunteers set to start collecting and distributing food in the area, including Cross Keys, Ty Sign and Rogerstone.

The latest collection for the Ebbw Vale food bank takes place outside the town’s Tesco on Saturday from 10am to 4pm.

Volunteers will urge shoppers to donate items such as tins of food.

EDITORIAL COMMENT: Food help is fantastic

IT SAYS a lot about the times we live in that some people in our area have to rely on food parcels to help feed their families.

Such people include those whose benefits have been delayed, especially with so much unemployment in the region, victims of domestic violence and those who simply live on or below the poverty line.

So thank goodness for the excellent work of the Ebbw Vale food bank and its committed volunteers who have collected 14 tonnes of food for needy local residents in the past three years.

So far nearly 2,500 people have received food parcels bought with cash raised by volunteers, topped up by donations of food from the general public.

So successful has the project been that it has been imitated in the Blackwood area, soon to be followed by Risca, and has spawned a further 12 imitators in other parts of Wales.

Naturally we feel there is something wrong with the system when people have to rely on food parcels in this day and age.

But at the same time we are struck by the public spiritedness of those volunteers within the local community who have given so much time and effort to provide food for their less well-off neighbours.