Hopes are high that a new foodbank centre will open in Holbeach this year after “positive” talks in the town.
Volunteers interested in helping needy people in the town met with church leaders and councillors at All Saints’ Church on Thursday to discuss plans to set up a satellite centre to Agape Care Foodbank which already has bases in Spalding and Long Sutton.
The meeting was chaired by the vicar of Holbeach, the Rev Rosamund Seal, and included a presentation by foodbank co-ordinators from The Lighthouse Church in Haverfield Road, Spalding.
A venue for the new foodbank is still to be found but Mrs Seal is confident that it will be open for business in September.
She said: “I thought the meeting on Thursday was very good and everybody there wanted the foodbank to happen.
“There’s a real will to find a venue and see it happen as soon as possible, but I also think there’s a very strong possibility of providing a lunch on the day it’s open.
“We’re awaiting news of a venue but it looks like it will start running on a Friday in the middle of September.”
During Thursday’s meeting, it was revealed that more than 60 food parcels had been given out to individuals and families from the Holbeach area in the past two years, including 20 so far this year.
Mrs Seal said: “Even before I came to Holbeach as vicar, I thought the town needed a foodbank and a conversation I had at one of the primary schools in the town made it absolutely clear that this is what the town needs.”
Irene Davies, foodbank coordinator in Spalding, said: “I thought it was a really positive meeting and it was good to see so many parts of the comunity there.
“We are excited about the prospect of a new foodbank opening in Holbeach and we are looking forward to working with everybody there to help serve the people of the town.”
Coun Nick Worth, Lincolnshire County Council member for Holbeach, said: “It was nice for me to see people at the meeting who are willing to help people who find themselves in difficult situations.“
Another foodbank meeting is at All Saints’ Church, Holbeach, on July 11, at 7.30pm.