A housebuilder donated £500 towards a foodbank in Godmanchester and helped deliver parcels for in time for Christmas.

Bellway Eastern Counties, which has its head office in Huntingdon, gave the donation to Godmanchester Foodbank.

The foodbank is based at Godmanchester Baptist Church on East Chadley Lane and is run entirely by volunteers, with around 20 people working to pack and give out the parcels and a further ten regulars who collect food for them.

Administrator for Godmanchester Foodbank, Peter Levitt, has been working with the group since 2015.

He said: “We have been running for about 10 years now. We usually help around 15 to 20 people a week, whether that be individuals or families.

“Bellway responded to a Facebook post that was put out to request help with deliveries, as Christmas time is always an extremely busy period for us.

“Bellway helped us deliver our first ten Christmas hampers, some of which went about 15 miles away.”

The Christmas hampers that the foodbank put together offer a three-day supply for a household – this includes pasta, sauce, sugar, tea, coffee, tinned meat, tinned vegetables, cereal, baked beans and multiple other items.

Peter continued: “This donation is the equivalent to 15 three-day food parcels for a large family.

“Due to the pandemic, we have had a very busy year. Initially we were sending out 80 parcels in a week.

“We provide people with a hand-up, not a hand-out. A lot of the people we help only use the foodbank once, and we have had a few people actually donate back to us as a thank you for helping them out.”

Rachael Gatehouse, sales manager of Bellway Eastern Counties, said: “Because of the added stress that has been caused by the pandemic this year, we understood organisations like Godmanchester Foodbank would need our support.

“When we saw the Facebook post asking for help with deliveries, we were more than happy to offer our services, and we thought it was only right that we supplied a monetary donation as well.”

For more information about the foodbank, visit www.godmanchester.foodbank.org.uk

For more information about the homes being built by Bellway, visit www.bellway.co.uk