Norfolk and Suffolk food banks plea for ‘no Easter eggs just essentials’ to help those in need during lockdown

Norfolk and Suffolk food banks are asking people for ‘no Easter eggs just essentials’ as donations continue to fall and demand spike due to the impact of Covid-19.

They are urging people to focus on donating vital food and essentials throughout Easter to create much-needed support packages for people in need at this time.

People can make donations to their local food bank by visiting their nearest Central England Co-op food store and dropping an item or two into special collection points.

The donations made will be collected from the stores and used to create food parcels, containing around 11 items and will provide at least three days worth of meals for those in need.

Items needed for the food bank appeal include food such as cereal, tinned food and fruit, tea bags, rice, long life milk, sugar, and fruit juice.

Central England Co-op says communities have already donated over 30,000 items to their urgent food bank appeal in less than two weeks.

They also say, on average, food banks are seeing a 50% fall in donations. There's a 100% rise in requests for food parcels coming from people who are self isolating, self employed and families who have children that would normally be getting free school meals.

People who would love to keep up to date with how Central England Co-op is responding to the Coronavirus, visit www.centralengland.coop/update