MORE than 5,000 people have been helped through the County Council’s food support programme during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Over 500 catering packs have been provided so far, and each pack has enough food to help feed 10 people for 1 week.

425 food parcels, containing 1 week’s supply, have been supplied to individuals who have needed help as they couldn’t get food themselves and were not receiving shielded support from Central Government.

To meet urgent calls for help, the Council has also sent out 420 emergency food packs during the pandemic.

Councillor Karen May, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Transformation and Commissioning said: “I couldn’t be prouder of the effort that has gone into making sure those in Worcestershire who need it have access to the essentials during the pandemic, and our food parcels operation has played a huge part in this.

Our partnership working has been fantastic though and community spirit created during the Here2Help campaign has been something we can look back on with pride for many years to come.”

The Lakeview Café at County Hall has been converted into a food distribution hub, and staff have been providing food deliveries to food banks and street kitchens as they have struggled to get the food that they need to meet the demand.

The team who usually work in the cafés on the County Council sites at County Hall and Wildwood have done the packing and County Enterprises have helped with the deliveries.

The packs have allowed their recipients to maintain access to fresh meat, fruit and vegetables, and maintain a healthy diet.