THE foodbank in Central Fife has been a lifeline for thousands of people in one of the worst economic crises seen in recent times.

But now it needs the help of Times readers.

The pandemic has caused the charity to give out more emergency parcels than it ever has before – but that means stocks are at an all-time low.

That's why we need your help – so on July 1 we'll be including a foodbank appeal bag in every edition of the Times and asking our readers to fill it up as much as you can.

Donations can be dropped off at numerous locations around Fife including shops and foodbank centres.

The Trussell Trust's excellent app as well as their website tells people exactly what items Benarty Foodbank is in urgent need of so it's never been easier to add a couple of items to your shop.

Summer is notoriously difficult for the foodbank to get the stock they need so this is why the Times is stepping in to help by launching this appeal.

Sandra Beveridge, project manager at Dunfermline Foodbank, which oversees the Benarty branch, said: "This appeal has just come at the right time; we are really low on stock so we're thankful for the Press' help.

"Even if you could buy one thing – it doesn't need to be a big shop – just a couple of items will all add up in the end.

"Our app is really easy to use so you can see exactly what stock we're low on when you're shopping.

"The winter months are really busy for us normally so by spring we find our stock goes right down.

"This is the same every year but it's been such a difficult year that we want to be more prepared, especially if a lot of people become unemployed in the area, at some stage we're going to have to support them."

Data shows that 7,726 people were helped by Dunfermline Foodbank from April 2020 – March 2021; consisting of 4,751 adults and 2,968 children.

That's down on the previous year's total which showed 8,126 people in food crisis were given a three-day emergency food supply in Fife.

However, the foodbank gave away double the amount of food packages to make sure clients had enough for a week's supply of food.

Sandra continued: "This meant that we didn't have much footfall coming to the centres for safety and it also meant that people didn't have to come back more than needed.

"So we've spent so much more money this year per head – almost double the stock has gone out, but now we're feeling it.

"At the moment, we're finding a lot of people who work in hospitality needing our help because they're still not getting full-time hours and that's slowly building up for them again.

"We're also seeing a lot of big families coming forward too."

The Dunfermline Foodbank umbrella comprises five centres across Fife, including Dunfermline, Inverkeithing, Rosyth, Benarty and Cowdenbeath.