Barking Foodbank collection at Asda. Pastor Obi Onyeabor wirh Michael Ochwa (Mercy International Project Coordinator - UK/Africa)

The founder of Barking Foodbank has thanked the Post for raising awareness among readers which has helped increase collections.

Volunteers from Foodbank, which launched in February and operates from the Communion Centre Unit in Gascoigne Road, were joined by a team of helpers from another organisation when they collected food from shoppers outside Asda in Barking.

A team of 23 people from voluntary organisation Mercy Worldwide lended a hand after hearing about Foodbank through the Post.

Foodbank founder and director, Pastor Obi Onyeabor, said: “We were able to collect more than 240 kilos of food.

“I would like you to know that, through the help of the Barking and Dagenham Post, Barking Foodbank has been able to make steady progress in the area of awareness in our borough. We have seen an increase in the number of our clients and sponsors in the last two months.”

Pastor Onyeabor told last month how the difficult economic climate is causing demand to outstrip supply at the charity.

Since its launch, Barking Foodbank has fed more than 60 families and its services are being called upon more and more.

It receives referrals from other help agencies or social services and more members of the public are visiting independently after hearing about it.

Food vouchers can be collected from Foodbank’s Vicarage Field office, or from the Jubilee Debt Advice Centre in Axe Street, Barking.

They can be redeemed for bags of groceries at the charity’s Gascoigne Road storage centre.