Magna Housing is supporting four Dorset food banks to top up essential supplies for people facing crisis this winter.

The community-based housing association has donated £500 each to food banks in Dorchester, Lyme Regis, Sherborne and Weymouth.

The money will help food bank volunteers stock up on products people need but are sometimes in short supply.

Tracy Hughs, a volunteer at Dorchester Food Bank, explains: "Even though people are very generous with their donations, we often end up with a glut of things like soup, baked beans, pasta and rice.

"Magna's generous donation will be so helpful in allowing us to purchase the things that we have less of, like household items, coffee, desserts, and jams."

Tracy explains why sometimes people need to turn to food banks: "If somebody finds they've got no food and no money, or they've had a big bill and find themselves in a financial crisis, they can be referred to us to provide them with a parcel of food that'll last them at least three days.

"Our packages have all the ingredients they need to put meals together, such as tinned and packaged food, meats, cereal, biscuits, pasta and sauces, vegetables and more. We can also provide household and personal care items such as laundry products, washing up liquid, soap, shower gel and shaving gel."

Magna's fire safety compliance partner Ventro has also kindly donated a box of food, which Magna has delivered to Dorchester Food Bank.

Neil Bliss, Community and Customer Involvement Officer for Magna, said: "We know that some of our customers make use of their local food banks to help them through the cost of living crisis. Demand has shot up since September, with a lot more working families asking us for help.

"Six of these food banks are in areas where we have a lot of homes, so we decided to donate £500 to each of them to help top up the items that don't often get donated and fund other running costs. 

"Food banks work together with other organisations like Magna who can refer customers for help. If you're a Magna customer and feel you need support, you can contact our Money Matters team in confidence on 0800 3586025 or [email protected]"