AN OUTPOURING of generosity has stunned volunteers at the Worcester Foodbank after they revealed stock levels had reached crisis point.

The response to the food bank's appeal has been incredible but now they hope to keep the momentum to help them cope with a spike in referrals.

Among the amazing acts of generosity are students from Christopher Whitehead who held an own clothes day and donated 40 crates - almost half a tonne of food - which will be donated to individuals and families in crisis.

At the start of the month, Grahame Lucas, Worcester Foodbank manager, revealed that some essential items were so low that volunteers were having to hand them out the day they were donated to the warehouse in Lowesmoor Wharf.

The issue was not a reduction in donations but an increase in referrals, about 35 per cent, causing the problems.

Mr Lucas said: "We’ve had an incredible response to our appeal with food donations from a variety of sources all significantly increasing.

"It looks as though our September collections will have doubled to about four and a half tonnes, which will provide at least 4,500 meals.

"Our supermarket collection bins have been overflowing with the volume of food donated almost doubling.

"Donations from churches have also increased dramatically."

“Also, Christopher Whitehead has been a great supporter of food bank since we opened in 2012 and has collected in the region of 10,000 cans of food. That’s an incredible effort.”

Food bank harvest festival donations are already coming into the warehouse and the Co-op in Northwick is planning a fund-raiser to support its work.

Mr Lucas added: “The response has gone a long way to restoring our depleted food stocks but we now face the challenge of trying to maintain that momentum with demand for emergency food showing no sign of slowing.

"We’re looking at a wide range of options to help us achieve this but ultimately it all hinges on the generosity of local people which has been incredible so far."

Recently, volunteers have started to hold collection days at ASDA supermarket where customers are offered the foodbank shopping list if they wish to donate.

The foodbank is planing to have a Reverse Advent Calendar campaign where people have a collection bin and each day of advent put an item of food into the bin then donate it to Worcester Foodbank.

They are also hoping to expand on the collection points around the city which are currently located at Tesco St Peters and Warndon, ASDA, Waitrose, Sainsbury's Local, Barbourne and will be starting another soon at Sainsbury's Blackpole.

The Guildhall, Worcester and some local churches also have collection baskets.

Any businesses wishing to have a collection bin should contact info@worcester.foodbank.org.uk.