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swindonlink.com • June 2008 13
Bags of support for Food Bank as credit crunch bites
The drive to persuade shoppers to buy reusables has reduced the supply of free carrier bags for Swindon Food Bank but pupils at Moredon
Primary have saved the day with a mountain of recycled bags.
Richard Belsham of Food Bank said the supply of single use plastic
bags is drying up as supermarkets stop giving them away as part of
the initiative to encourage shoppers to buy reusable bags. When stocks
began to run low, food distribution points around the town, including
Moredon School, were asked to help. The youngsters rose to the challenge
and brought in more than five hundred carrier bags.
Food Bank provides basic short term food support for households
struggling to put food on the table when faced with redundancy, sick-
ness or family breakdown. Sometimes welfare benefits can take weeks
to come through but the charity can give immediate help.
As the credit crunch takes its toll, requests for help are up by 25 per
cent compared to this time last year. “We have had a big increase since
Christmas,” said Richard. “It started when the main building companies
in the town shut down sites and we’ve been feeding bricklayers, painters, There are regular food collections at supermarkets around the town
carpenters and decorators over the last six months. and donations can be taken to the Rainbow Bookshop on Edgeware Road.
“Out of all the people that we help, we only ever see five per cent come At the moment, small packets of breakfast cereal would be particularly
back. We feed people for six weeks on average and the fact that they don’t welcome. Call 07932 108732 to assist.
return is a sign that other services in the town are working.” www.swindonfoodbank.co.uk
The answers are at swindonfairtrade.org
Swindon Fairtrade Coalition has relaunched its website and is running a competition to encourage readers to learn about Fairtrade and how
you can support the movement to give food producers across the world a better deal.
Have a go and you could win four tickets to the Empire Cinema or one of six vouchers for coffee and cake for two at Cafe Revive in Marks &
Spencer. All answers to the questions below will be found at swindonfairtrade.org
E-mail your entries to swindonfairtrade@ntlworld.com or post to 80 Okus Road, Swindon SN1 4JP
1. What is cacao? 7. How much does a pack of Fairtrade recipe cards cost?
2. Where is Swindon’s Fairtrade Status certificate displayed? 8. How many different recipes were featured in the 2005
3. Where does Elia Ruth Zuniga live? Swindon Fairtrade Calendar?
4. Name 2 local (Swindon) employers who support Fairtrade 9. Which famous newsreader did the winners of the Fairtrade
5. How many coffee washing stations has the money from Fairtrade Borough postcard competition meet in May 2007?
helped set up in Tadessa Maskela’s community in Ethiopa? 10. Name 6 Fairtrade fruits which can be bought in Swindon
6. Name 10 cafés in the Borough of Swindon where you can buy Tiebreaker - in no more than 15 additional words, complete the sentence:
a cup of Fairtrade tea or coffee Fairtrade products are.....
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