A Swindon food distribution charity has reported a huge increase in demand for its services. 

Swindon Scrapstore acts as a food distribution centre, collecting food from supermarkets and packaging and sending it to foodbanks.

However, Olivia McCann, CEO of the Scrapstore, said: “Before we have even collected the food we have people waiting for the food and actually helping us offload it off the vehicle.”

“You could have twenty people waiting, its crazy, and we now have people ringing up to ask for food.”

Swindon Scrapstore is not a foodbank, but any food which they cannot distribute they advertise on Facebook for collection by individuals for a small donation.

Olivia predicts that, on average, 40 people are benefiting from their twice-weekly food collections, and that it is increasing.

Swindon Advertiser:

She added: “From six months ago you can see that it has massively increased.”

Most of the food is moved to Gorse Hill Community Fridge, with Olivia explaining: “We would not be able to deal with the demand that we would get if we were a foodbank.

“We would be inundated and we wouldn’t be able to cope”.

The main function of Scrapstore is to provide low cost environmentally friendly resources for use in recreational, educational and leisure time activities.

They divert on average 250 tonnes of redundant reusable materials from landfill sites back into reuse for the benefit of local people each year.

During the pandemic they began delivering over 1,500 free food parcels to elderly and vulnerable people and families in urgent need of food.

They have continued distributing food since now collecting 20 to 25 crates of food in a day.

This comes after news that food banks in Swindon have come under enormous pressure, with some running out of supplies due to increased demand and decreased donations.

Olivia works closely with Gorse Hill Community Fridge, and reports that they have queues out of the door for their services.

“They have people queuing before they are even open all the way down Gorse Hill.

“I have never seen anything like it.”

Last month, the rate at which food prices are rising did drop for the first time in two years to 8%.

However, inflation is still at 4% in January, meaning that food prices will continue to rise, just at a slightly slower rate than before.