OKEHAMPTON's Foodbank collection has been a great success thanks to food donations and positive messages from shoppers at Waitrose.
Residents from the town and area showed their support as they shopped last Saturday week, raising a whopping 450kg (70 stone) of food for the project.
Cllr Kay Bickley said: 'We are all experiencing difficult times as we move through this recession, but some are in a much worse position than others and frequently not of their own making.'
Cllr Bickley expressed thanks to Okehampton Glass for the loan of their van and to the NatWest Bank for paying for the printing costs of the shopping lists.
She said the support from the community made a big difference: 'I am really grateful to Waitrose for allowing us to make this collection.
'Most of all I am heartened to have witnessed our community moving swiftly to help those less fortunate than themselves.'
Since the Foodbank was launched in late October 2008, ten boxes of food have been given to families and individuals in crisis.
Cllr Bickley said: 'We expect the need to increase as our community feels the pinch of recession.
'Okehampton Foodbank is available to everyone, regardless of the circumstances which brought them to their crisis, in a non-judgemental way.'
The bank runs a simple operation with local professional care workers and members of organisations, such as the CAB, who make the assessment and issue vouchers to people who are in need of support.
The food voucher is then traded in at the Baptist Church in Okehampton, which runs the project, for the return of a food box which feeds individuals and families for three days.
Anyone who knows someone in crisis is welcome to come along to the Foodbank Centre at Okehampton Baptist Church, any day of the week between noon and 2pm.
There is also a meeting held every Sunday at 11am. Details are on the board outside the church.