A MOTHER has made an urgent appeal for foodbank donations to help the most vulnerable people in Worcester during the pandemic.

Kind-hearted city cleaner Lyn Martin collected 20 bags and four boxes ‘full to the brim’ with food and other essentials, also dipping deep into her own pockets. The generous gesture was only possible because of the residents of a housing complex in Diglis. Meanwhile, a neighbour helped her drop the items off at the foodbank in Lowesmoor on Thursday afternoon, ahead of the weekly clap for carers.

On Friday the foodbank issued ‘a huge thank you’ to all those who have donated, including Mrs Martin. However, the mum-of-two of Shrubbery Avenue, Barbourne, wants to do more to help. She said: “Our food banks are in crisis. They’re absolutely desperate. They have been inundated.

“The people who have been affected the most are the people who aren’t so well off and they’re turning to food banks.

“There’s also lots of wealth around here. I just think people need to come together and help these people. It really needs to be emphasised how desperate they are.”

Mrs Martin is a self-employed cleaner working for Finesse Cleaning and answered the call when a flyer was put through her door. The contracted cleaner for Berkley Homes in Diglis has got to know all the residents. Residents from Harry Davis Court, part of the Waterside development in Diglis, provided tinned food, coffee, toiletries and even children’s toys, books and pencils. The appeal was made over Facebook on her behalf by the Independent Fundraisers of Worcester and the response left Mrs Martin ‘overwhelmed’. She had only expected to find one or two items. She also put £140 herself towards the big shop at Tesco. One resident, who got not get out to buy food himself, even left a £10 note in an envelope on the windscreen of her car so he could contribute.

Mrs Martin said the pandemic had affected a lot of people, ‘not just those surviving on Universal Credit’.

She added: “And how long it’s going to go on for, nobody knows. Everybody needs to pull together and help. I would like to think we can do a lot more.”

Mrs Martin wants to make more trips to the food bank with supplies.

The family is willing to pick up food donations and they can be contacted through Mrs Martin’s daughter’s Facebook page - Grace Martin.