A north-east foodbank is appealing for the public to help them secure a £25,000 grant so they can help more people in need, no matter how remote they are.
The Aberdeenshire North Foodbank has its main warehouse in Inverurie but also has centres in both Huntly and Ellon, with service users coming from miles around.
Now the charity has launched a £25,000 bid to purchase its own van so they can distribute food to people in rural areas – many of whom are cut off from their local foodbanks.
The vehicle would also allow volunteers to bring the service to the Peterhead and Fraserburgh for the first time.
To win the grant, the charity – which fed 1,400 people between July 2014 and 2015 – needs the public to vote online.
Sophie MacDonald, a trustee of the Aberdeenshire North Foodbank, said the oil and gas downturn had led to an increase in families coming to the charity for help.
However, she said food poverty had been an issue across Aberdeenshire even before the decline.
Mrs MacDonald said: “We need to move north into places like Turriff and places between Huntly and Ellon, we need to spread out.
“People are finding themselves on big wages contracting on the rigs one month and the next month they are earning nothing. We are even finding these people are needing help.
“We would anticipate over the next year or two that is going to increase. But there is food poverty in the north-east anyway, it is just becoming more evident.
“Peterhead and Fraserburgh are our next ports of call but physically getting food up there from Inverurie where the warehouse is at the moment is a bit of an issue.
“And if you live in the likes of Rothienorman the bus service is not exactly fantastic and you might not be able to afford the bus to come to Inverurie to collect the food.
“If someone can’t come to us we’ll get to them. At the moment some of our volunteers just get in their own cars and go.”
The grant would be from the OneFamily Foundation, and would cover the price of the van and also account for insurance and running costs. Mrs MacDonald said the charity would need about 5,000 votes.
Voting opens at 10am on Monday. To vote for Aberdeenshire North Foodbank visit foundation.onefamily.com