HUNDREDS of hungry families will get the food they need after a Huddersfield charity received an amazing bonanza.

The Welcome Centre, which helps people who are in crisis, has received 17 car loads of donations in just one day.

The bumper haul of tinned and dried food and household goods has come from churches and schools around Huddersfield.

Welcome Centre manager, Karen Selley, said they were immensely grateful to those who had given items and said they had been desperately waiting for Harvest Festival season to come round.

She said: “Every year in the summertime we nearly run out of food, but this year we’ve had empty shelves for quite some time.

“It’s been a phenomenal response, we’re so touched by the amount we’ve received.

“We’ve never had this much in one day before.

“It’s so wonderful that they’ve sent so much and we’re only just into Harvest season.”

Karen said the centre was now giving out about 120 food packs per week – roughly four times more than when she began working there five years ago.

She said the recipients of the hand-outs were mostly local people, who had fallen on hard times through no fault of their own.

She said: “With the economic crisis and the change in the benefits system some people can be without money for six to eight weeks.

“And a lot of the people that come to us have mental or physical health problems, so they were finding it hard to cope anyway.

“It’s a real crisis out there and there’s nowhere else for them to go other than ourselves.

“We gave out 4,600 food packs last year, helping 3,700 families.

“People shouldn’t be in a position where they haven’t got food to feed their children.”

Karen said the thousands of tins they received on Monday would only last a few months and she was still looking for more.

She added: “From what we’ve heard about the changes to the benefit system, it’s going to increase dramatically next year.

“We’re just fighting to keep up with it so we will need all the more support at a time when people can ill-afford it themselves.

“But the Huddersfield community has been fantastic, even when they’re having hard times themselves, they will come and support us because they know how it feels.”

The Welcome Centre is welcoming food donations at its base within Huddersfield Methodist Mission on Lord Street.

Web: www.thewelcomecentre.org

Tel: 01484 340034.

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