by Lewis Tibbs
THE kind-hearted community has donated about £5,600 and counting to Oldham Foodbank after thieves trashed their office and stole valuable items.
Volunteers shut the building at 5pm on Saturday, January 5 and were devastated to find out on Monday morning that the office had been completely ransacked.
Volunteer Zoey Stansfield set up a GoFundMe Pagein response to interest from the public in donating directly to the charity to help deal with the crisis.
She said: “We are overwhelmed by people’s generosity. It restores your faith in humanity to see the community come together like this, we are so grateful.”
The thief/thieves stole four password-protected tablets, one of which was used for emergency fuel allowances for those in urgent need and another for vital research into foodbanks by Edinburgh University.
They also ruined office furniture and broke into the filing cabinets, taking £200 in public donations, alongside the foodbank’s main hard drive.
The foodbank is not aware of exactly how much was food taken, but it included jars of coffee and tins of Christmas chocolates which were given out to vulnerable families over Christmas.
They are appealing for donations of tinned items, specifically fruit, fish and tomatoes, alongside UHT milk and rice pudding, to replenish their stocks.
Zoey added: “As a charity we can little afford the extra costs incurred to replace the more valuable items and office furniture.
“Any donations will be greatly received and used to help to provide the local community in need and crisis.”
If you would like to donate any items to the foodbank, head down to The Three Crown Centre, 1-3 Manchester Street, in Oldham Town Centre to drop off your donations.
If you would like to donate to the GoFundMe page, follow this link https://www.gofundme.com/oldham-foodbank-break-in