Deeside Pet Foodbank seeks more donations as demand soars due to cost of living crisis

A foodbank set up to support pet owners struggling with the cost of living crisis is appealing for more donations after seeing demand for its services soar.

The P.E.T (Pets Eat Today) Foodbank in Deeside is is need of more donations to enable it to meet this increasing demand, as the country faces rising fuel bills and food costs.

Intensive care nurse Mel Oldfield set the foodbank up when she realised there was a need for this support to help people feed their pets when they are struggling to pay rising energy costs and food bills.

But as word has spread about the services the foodbank provides, Mel is concerned that they may run out of food and she has appealed for any organisations or individuals who can help by donating or in other ways to get in touch.

Companies like Tesco in Broughton Park have generously agreed to run an in store donation point for the foodbank and the White Bear pub on Mancot Lane in Mancot has kindly allowed Mel to use an outbuilding as the foodbank’s base.

Mel, who is from Hawarden, said: “It’s got busier and busier. Many people are struggling and there’s a huge demand and I think it will get worse before it gets better. As each week goes by we are seeing more and more people signing up. People can’t afford to buy food due to the cost of living.

“We’ve got our regulars who we have had from day one and just yesterday five new people signed up. I think the word is getting out a bit more now.

“Some people are uncomfortable with the whole asking for help thing. They can be quite embarrassed. We are hoping to work in collaboration with other community support organisations like Nanny Biscuit, compiling a leaflet with all the relevant organisations listed.

“We definitely need more donations. Demand is high and my fear now is that we may run out. We’ve got a little bit of money in the bank.

“We did a collection in the foyer of Asda a couple of weeks ago and we are hoping to have a collection point put in there. Tesco in Broughton collect donations for us and it is probably one of our most fruitful collection points.”

Mel added that she was in the process of making the foodbank a community interest company and she hopes this will help give it the boost it needs.

She said: “Becoming a community interest company will open a lot of doors for us. It will enable us to apply for a range of grants in future.

“I will start sleeping at night then. Donations have slowed down a lot from what they were but we will keep going and make sure we can meet demand.”

Explaining what had led her to set up the foodbank, Mel said she had been inspired to do it after getting a dog for the first time last year.

She said: “We got a dog last year and we’d never had one before. I feel head over heels and was besotted. I’ve always loved animals. I started reading stories about rescue centres being inundated.

“People do want to keep their pets but they can’t afford to feed them and I thought the foodbank could make a huge difference. I looked into it and saw there were quite a few foodbanks across the country but the nearest were in Manchester and Cardiff. Now more are popping up, including one in Wrexham.”

For more information on how to access support from the P.E.T Foodbank or on how to donate, visit facebook.com/petfoodbankdeeside.