August 7, 2019 5.30 pm This story is over 54 months old

Food bank ‘overwhelmed’ by Oliver! audience donations

People going to the show are bringing all of their food glorious food

Audiences of the Oliver! musical production at Lincoln Cathedral have overwhelmed a local food bank with a mountain of donations.

The team behind the community production sent out an appeal with The Lincolnite asking for anyone going to the show to bring with them a single item of food.

From just two nights of the show so far, generous audience members have managed to fill a truck full with donations to help feed local families in need.

Ben Poole, Director at The Starring Lincoln Theatre Company, said: “I had in my mind that if everybody brought one piece of food we would end up with 6,600 donations.

“People might think that a box of biscuits, a tin or some cereal might not make a difference, but when lots of people do it then it makes a massive difference.

“Lots of people were very generous bringing bags full and trays full of food for us to donate to a food bank which does great work in the community.”

They’ve collected a mountain of food.

All of the donations are going to Lincoln Foodbank, which helped to support 3,467 people with food parcels just last year.

The food bank previously told The Lincolnite that it could be forced to close down after it saw a surge in demand in calls for help.

Amy Colley, Lincoln Foodbank coordinator, said: “It is amazing. To think that there’s going to be nine more nights of this as well it could be our single biggest donation.

“This has come at a really good time now that the schools are on summer holiday. We often see a rise in need because free school meals are not available then.

“We’re giving out more than ever, so for this big donation to come through it allows us to breathe and think ‘we can keep doing what we’re doing,’ which is great.”

Limited tickets are still available for Oliver! – but don’t forget to bring your food glorious food on the night.