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Kind-hearted Accent Nene employees have set themselves the target of donating 2013 items of food to Peterborough Foodbank, to help struggling families in their time of need.

Donations of nonperishable food items, such as tins of soup, pasta and breakfast cereal, have already started to arrive at the office of the Peterborough-based housing association.

Peterborough Foodbank is one of 300 foodbanks in the UK, and was set up by The Trussell Trust in partnership with city churches and community groups in October 2012.

It helps to feed families across Peterborough, from its four outlets around the city. There are many reasons why families may need help such as receiving an unexpected bill on a low income or redundancy.

Accent Nene’s Tenancy Support Officer Ian Denton said: “A foodbank is something we have needed in the city for a long time. As a social housing landlord we are in contact with many Peterborough people on a daily basis, some of whom really need this help.”

“We approached Peterborough Foodbank to see if we could help, and thought it would be a nice idea to set ourselves a target of collecting 2013 items, to mark the turn of the year.”

He added: “We have a shopping list of items needed, and now everyone is helping us to reach our target. We recently had a dress-down day and the fee was two items of food for the foodbank rather than money to donate to another charity.

“This was a simple yet effective way to get food donations from our staff and we’ll be doing it a few more times throughout the course of this year.

“We are also looking for the general public to aid us in this worthy cause, and invite people to drop off items of food at Manor House in Lincoln Road.”

Accent Nene is also an official referral partner, with housing advice staff issuing vouchers to people in crisis to exchange for food at the foodbank.

Juliet Welch from Peterborough Foodbank said: “The foodbank has been a great success with 11 tonnes of food donated to us since it launched. We would like to thank Accent Nene staff for their generous support and are delighted to have them as an official partner.”