Hebburn Helps foodbank founders blame 'desperate times' after food taken from its supermarket donation points

The Hebburn Helps collection point in Morrisons in the Viking Precinct, Jarrow, has been moved as staff reported customers ‘dipping in’ to the donation trolley amid the coronavirus pandemic.

It comes as supermarket shelves have been emptied of essential items as shoppers continue to stockpile goods such as toilet roll, soap and dry foods.

On Sunday, March 15 some of the UK’s major supermarket retailers sent a joint letter to customers, urging them to shop responsibly and to work together to ensure there is enough food for everyone across the country.

A number of stores have now placed limits on the number of certain items shoppers are allowed to buy.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, March 18, co-founder of Hebburn Helps food bank and crisis response centre, Jo Durkin said: “As some individuals can’t help themselves and decide to dip into our donation trolleys at Morrisons and take our food, they have had no choice but to remove them.

“That donation point was a huge help to us… we can’t express how much of a massive difference it made.

“We hope that somehow we can find a different way so we can try and continue taking your donations as we need them even more now.”

The donation trolley has been removed from the shop floor of Morrisons but people can still donate by asking Customer Services.

A Hebburn Helps donation point has also been moved in Iceland at The Nook, as staff warned that people were “coming close” to taking items from it.

“They contacted us to say people were getting pretty close to dipping into it and they would rather stop it before it happened,” said co-founder Angie Comerford.

“I know it has happened elsewhere in the country - these are desperate times.”

She continued: “I’m not going to get annoyed about it.

“You don’t know the mindset of somebody - if they think that’s acceptable then there's obviously something wrong. If people are desperate we can help them.”

However, the food bank is feeling the strain as they face increasing pressure to help those affected by the coronavirus.

Volunteers have been delivering almost 20 pack lunches a day to children who are self-isolating.

From Friday they will also lose two of their team as over-70s and the most vulnerable are advised to self-isolate for a number of weeks.

The food bank has been inundated with requests for isolation packs which they will be delivering to those in the community who can’t leave their homes.

However, they have stressed that these are only available to those who have been referred to Hebburn Helps through support services.

“We are feeling the pinch, we’re going to get right down to the bone, but people are still being so generous,” said Angie”While you can still buy the food, the support is there and donations are still coming in.”

Click here for an interactive map showing the spread of Covid-19 across the UK

Hebburn Helps is based on Campbell Park Rd, Hebburn, NE31 1QY.

Contact 0191 489 9707.