A survey has found that Norfolk's Christian groups and churches feed 7,000 people each month.
The Norfolk Feeds 5000 survey looked at the different groups engaged in nightly soup runs, weekly community meals and emergency food parcels across the county.
The foodbank networks, all co-ordinated by churches and Christian groups, supply thousands of emergency three-day food parcels to families and individuals who are in desperate need.
The survey, carried out by the website Network Norfolk, has also highlighted the dozens of churches which run cafes, or regular community meals, mostly for free or a nominal donation.
The nightly Norwich Soup Run provides hot food and drinks to around 40 people every night of the year, and other similar initiatives are run in King's Lynn and to Big Issue sellers in Norwich.
Meanwhile, Messy Churches, aimed at young families and offer different activities and usually a meal, are run by dozens of churches in Norfolk.
Other initiatives led by Christian groups include Lunch clubs during the school holidays, youth clubs offering free food, schemes to gives surplus food to the homeless and taking people to a supermarket and paying for their food.
Network Norfolk publisher Keith Morris, who helped to co-ordinate the research, said: 'Christians do not have a monopoly on this kind of activity and there are other non-faith based groups in Norfolk doing similar things, but our research shows that the church is more than pulling its weight.
'Collectively, the Christian community has come up with dozens of innovative and inspirational projects to meet the basic needs of vulnerable and sometimes desperate people in our towns and villages, through the simple activity of sharing a free meal with them or providing food for their families.'
Of the 90 plus responses to the survey, Christian and church-led projects that involve hundreds of volunteers reported that an average of 7,020 people were either fed or provided with food each month.
You can see the full results and project case studies at www.norfolkfeeds5000.co.uk
Have you opened a foodbank in Norfolk? Call Luke Powell on 01603 772684
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