A Derby charity is close to delivering its 100,000th food parcel as it prepares to celebrate its fifth anniversary.
Derby Food 4 Thought Alliance, which is based in the city centre, has also supported 109,318 adults and 84,862 children since it launched in 2020.
Paul Brookhouse, manager of the Derby charity, says DF4TA has grown from strength to strength, and he has expressed his heartfelt thanks to staff and volunteers for their hard work and loyalty.
He said: “We are an extremely small team and yet we do an extremely enormous amount of work in Derby. Five years on, and DF4TA continues to see people struggling to feed their families and it is enormously upsetting that people suffer from food insecurity during this cost-of-living crisis.
“In one year, we can help 30,000 people in Derby and sometimes, we physically don’t have enough hours in the day.”
Derby Food 4 Thought Alliance was formed in 2020 to help and support people during the COVID-19 pandemic. The charity started with a partnership of five projects, but it has now rapidly grown to 17 across the city.
As well as supporting people who are facing food insecurity, DF4TA has expanded its offer to support families with school uniforms, winter coats, Christmas meals and hampers, and furniture.
Paul said: “As a charity, we continue to see people are struggling to feed their families and life, for some people, can particularly tough. To meet these challenges, we have worked hard to adapt and change, and the charity continues to do its very best.
“We are now a team of five people, and we are also lucky to have a brilliant team of volunteers who give up their time to help DF4TA or one of our food partners.
“The volunteers are a fantastic bunch of people who help us so much and we are always looking out for recruits.”
Paul said: “We do receive financial support from other people too. Sometimes, we receive donations from people who have completed fundraising events and nominated us as their charity.
“Every penny helps us to provide invaluable support to families and children across Derby. Right now, we know that thousands of people in Derby are relying on food support and numbers just keep going up.
“Without financial support, regular donations of food and more volunteers, our charity work will suffer.
“It’s our job to make sure that the most vulnerable in the city do not go hungry and in the last five years we have done that for many, many people.”
To donate food or funds, volunteer or sign up to the 100 Club visit www.derbyfoodforthoughtalliance.org.uk
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