“We started off being environmentally focussed. We were talking about environmental issues on our estate and were introduced to FareShare and all thought it was a brilliant idea.

“Our members pay a set fee and get a box full of food each week. We started with 10 households – we’re up to 45 now.

“Our demographic is low-income families – parents working low paid jobs, zero hour contracts.

“By 2020 we’d become a support organisation. And we can’t advertise now or we’d be inundated because of the rise in the need – the whammy of Covid and now the cost-of-living crisis. People are really feeling it.

“But because people do pay for the boxes and they know it’s reducing waste, there’s no stigma around taking them.

“There’s not one of our families that’s comfortably off. We’ve helped people who’ve been able to save up and take their kids on holiday and that’s just wonderful. Kids need that – they need new shoes, they need treats.

“You can’t have children growing up with just the bare necessities and expect them to be happy, well-adjusted humans.”

Ian ‘Cally’ Kershaw-Calvert – Chairperson, South East Blackburn Food Hub