Walkley Green Party have marked their 50th monthly food collection in aid of S6 Foodbank.
For the past four years, the Walkley Greens and other volunteers from the community have collected food and raised funds for S6 Foodbank, located by Meadowhall on Vulcan Road.
Green council candidate for Walkley, Andy Davies said: “It’s about just being present in the community, and more than collecting the food and the cash donations itself.
“It’s about raising awareness of the food bank, partly so that people think about the other people that are going through that situation, but also so that hopefully they can kind of contribute in other ways.”
They usually see around four to six volunteers per initiative, but this continues to rise as the Walkley branch grows. The scheme was started by their previous councillor Bernard Little, and was taken over by the current ward in 2022.
S6 Foodbank runs multiple locations across Sheffield, alongside buying food wholesale and delivering it across the country.
Mr Davies says that by supporting S6 Foodbank, the Greens are “supporting the greatest good,” and “the greatest number of people”.
He continued: “As valuable as it would be to support a little local one, S6 Foodbank do the most work that they can to support all of [the local foodbanks].”
The average amount of food and other essentials collected by the volunteers usually amounts to six to eight crates worth, with the most being around 14 to 16.
Ward organiser Lauren Jones said that organising the food drives is important because “unfortunately, there’s a great need at the moment.
“People are struggling; they’re struggling to be able to make choices, make food, things like that. The demand is high, it’s never ending.”
The Walkley Greens continue to tackle issues affecting the area, such as antisocial behaviour and improving the quality of public green spaces in the ward.
You don’t need to be a Green Party member to get involved with the drive. The Walkley Greens meet outside the Asda on South Road at 11:30 on the first Saturday of every month.
Additionally, other wards across Sheffield have similar programmes, such as Hillsborough.
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