Volunteers setting up an emergency food bank said they have been overwhelmed by support, donations and offers of food, just days before it is due to open.
The food bank will open to serve the Midsomer Norton and Radstock areas of Somerset in the new year, and has to amass three tonnes of food before it can begin to distribute it to families and individuals in need.
Those in charge of the stockpile of food – mainly dry foods such as tins, pasta and rice – will hand over supplies to last a few days to anyone given vouchers by one of around 20 different agencies.
Food banks like the one being set up in the former mining communities in Somerset are becoming increasingly common as an answer to help feed families in times of crisis in their lives.
But Joy Fraser, one of the volunteers from the Salvation Army which is setting up the Somer Valley Food Bank, said it was important that the "hidden hungry" are looked after.
"We're lucky enough to have lots of support from volunteers, shoppers and the stores themselves," she said. "Tesco has signed a deal with the Trussell Trust, who are behind these food banks, and we're able to collect in the store four times a year, and they also have a system whereby the food bank actually has a store card which has 30 per cent extra that anyone donates put on it.
"It's important that the food is distributed in the right way. If someone just walked in off the street, we wouldn't be able to give them food immediately, but we'd obviously sit them down with a cup of tea and talk to them about how they could get some. There are around 20 agencies, from churches to children's centres, who have the vouchers. The Citizen's Advice Bureau also see a lot of people with emergency money problems who literally have no money for food.
"The caring professionals come across these people and are the ones who point the way to us. We also are not keen on becoming a regular place for people."
With more and more people in financial crises, food banks are springing up in almost every town and city in the region.
"We have to have three tonnes of food by the time we open on January 8, and we will begin distributing the following day," added Joy, the project co-ordinator.
"The support has been tremendous. We also got a good response for our distribution centre team.
"It's everywhere. There is deep deprivation everywhere. Bath itself is finding poverty it didn't know it had. Other wealthy places, they all have food banks."
