Sunday, February 13, 2011

Emergency food convoys in Devon

FOOD convoys are delivering emergency aid to desperate people - in DEVON.

A charity that normally helps starving orphans in Romania and Bulgaria is on a relief mercy mission in Okehampton after the town's two biggest employers closed.

Handout ... the Gordon family
Handout ... the Gordon family

People queued down the street outside a food distribution centre yesterday.

Local councillor Christine Marsh said: "This is a dire emergency. Families don't have any food or money to buy food."

The town of 7,000 people was rocked when a pie factory closed suddenly a week ago with the loss of 260 jobs. Workers had not been paid since mid-January.

Days earlier a large dairy had shut, chopping 70 jobs.

Dad-of-six Karl Jansz, 47, who lost his pie factory job, said: "I worked there for 25 years. My wife also worked there. We were left in a mess."

Tearful Bronwyn Gordon, 50, added as she and husband Martin, 52, lined up for a handout: "It's a humbling experience."

People around the county responded to appeals from the charity Food Bank.

One volunteer said: "Normally, we aid Eastern Europe. Now we're helping on our own doorstep."


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