A charity that provides food for the poor in the Waveney area is set to help more people this year than in the first year it started.

Eastern Daily Press: Volunteers from Waveney Foodbank outside the Budgens superstore in HarlestonVolunteers from Waveney Foodbank outside the Budgens superstore in Harleston (Image: Archant)

In the first year after the Waveney Foodbank began in May 2012, 1,200 people received food from the charity, but since April this year, 800 people have already come forward for food from the organisation, which is currently based on Brome airfield industrial estate, having started in a warehouse at Rackhams in Diss.

This Christmas, the foodbank, which covers a large area from Long Stratton to Eye, including Diss and Bungay, is appealing for donations of a festive nature to help its customers.

They would also like gifts for small children, including boxes of chocolates.

The Waveney charity has 75 volunteers and holds collections outside local stores, including a recent Tesco collection which attracted more than a tonne of donated food.

Graham Reardon, the Foodbank's manager, said the volunteers accept donations of dried food, but not fresh food, as well as jars of pasta source.

He said the majority of people who approached the Foodbank were in low paid jobs and struggled with bills. He added: 'We are able to be generous with our food because people are always generous to us.

'The people who staff our distribution centres are a wonderful crew and we are grateful to the volunteers and all the public who give so generously.'

The donations are distributed to people who have been recommended to the Foodbank scheme by social care agencies, such as the Citizens Advice Bureau.

The recipient is given a voucher which they can then take to a Foodbank distribution point to be exchanged for food.

Donations are taken to the Foodbank warehouse, where they are sorted into boxes sufficient to provide a nutritionally balanced diet for three days for those who have hit life crises and cannot afford to eat.

There are different sized boxes catering for a single person, a couple or a family.

The Foodbank scheme was set up by the charity the Trussell Trust to help the 13 million people living below the poverty line in the UK and involves the charity partnering with churches to distribute enough food to last at least three days.

• Click here to find out more about the Foodbank Appeal.