Fair Frome which helps out some of the most vulnerable in the town has stepped up its work under the Coronavirus threat but desperately needs more donations.

The charity has contingency plans as the threat from Covid 19 grows, but the Food Bank is now overdrawn.

In terms of feeding Frome schoolchildren, if the schools were closed and free meals no longer available they said: " We can't provide free school meals of course but are planning to keep food at Five and Holiday Hunger schemes going as long as it's safe to do so and following advice. We have also made contingency plans to deliver food parcels should the food bank building have to close."

Meantime Fair Frome which runs the Food Bank, Furniture Bank, Food at Five and other projects designed to support people in the town are asking for help.

Bob Ashford Chair of Trustees said: "The run up to Christmas saw the Food Bank volunteers working flat out to cope, not only with a 20% increase in distribution over the past year, but also with almost twice the number of food parcels given out in December and January, compared to the rest of the year. In addition, they also distributed over 150 Christmas parcels filled with Christmas food and other items to food bank visitors and to local schools to give out to those families the schools identified would benefit from them. We are very grateful for the huge amount of food donated by local people but unfortunately our stocks now have never been lower. All donations are very welcome."

Frome Coordinators Lenka Grimes and Wendy Miller Williams have been working with volunteers, referral agencies and service users to ensure the Food Bank, Furniture Bank and Food at Five stay open and safe. They said: "We are committed to keeping our services open and as safe as we can make them. We recognise that epidemics like this will have the greatest impact on those who are on the lowest incomes and with increased health needs. These are the very people who already need and use our services most and we want to keep them open as long as we can safely do so."

If you wish to make a food donation Fair Frome has collection points in most local supermarkets and other shops throughout Frome.

If you wish to make a financial donation you can do so via https://localgiving.com/charity/fairfrome