A Ross community champion has been spending her weekend supporting two local foodbanks.

Naomi Haggett was outside Morrisons on Saturday, August 20, collecting donations including unused items from homes, as well as items purchased from Morrisons or anywhere else.

She was on the lookout for enough dried goods such as pasta, rice, cereal, jarred sauces, tinned veg, tinned meat, custard, rice pudding, and jams to fill up an entire Morrisons parking space.

She added that item such as squash, biscuits and cereal bars are really useful as well as household items like shampoo, shower gel, washing up liquid, and laundry detergent.

She supports Ross Food Larder and Lord’s Larder in Newent weekly, so the items donated will be split between the two.

Naomi told the Gazette: “Saturday was a great success. I had 20 green trays full of goods that were collected by volunteers from Ross Food Larder and Newent Lord’s Larder. I usually find that our community is a generous one and Saturday’s event was no exception. Please express my gratitude to everybody that donated something, as there was also £32 in the collection tin which I used to buy more items.”

The Ross Community Larder is open between 9am and 11am each Tuesday, staffed by volunteers from Ross and the surrounding villages. It works on a voucher scheme; the vouchers are available from agencies throughout the town such as Age UK, CAB, the Job Centre, British Legion, SSAFA, the Probation Service, NHS Social Prescriber, CAP, the Mental Health team, Housing Association, and Turning Point.

The local schools and nurseries, Alton Street and Pendeen surgeries, health visitors, family support workers, social workers, and clergy also have vouchers. Those wishing to donate non-perishable goods can bring it to the larder on a Tuesday morning when the larder is open.

The Lord’s Larder Food Bank, is based in Newent and was created to provide short-term access to basic food and toiletries. All those who found themselves unable to feed themselves or their families were eligible in the short-term. The Larder, which is run and maintained entirely by volunteers, aims to target aid where there is a genuine need and have adopted a voucher system to do this effectively.