A CONWY food charity has been forced to close its doors due to high demand and limited resources.
Cymru Community Foodshare, based out of Bryn Morfa Holiday Park in Conwy, provided food parcels for struggling families across North Wales.
But after 16 months of operation, the scheme has come to a close.
Founder of the charity, Michelle Garner, said: “Although we have had lots of financial and food support from the general public we have been extremely short of volunteers to deliver the food. Also, due to the fact that we didn’t get a grant from the Lottery Fund to pay for a co-ordinator of the charity, it meant that I was having to co-ordinate Foodshare as well as working full time, which became too much for me to manage.”
Michelle's parents took over the co-ordinating role of the charity, but when illness struck her father they could no longer continue day-to-day operations.
“It is very sad but all the Trustees of the charity were very busy working mums and we could no longer run the charity effectively.
“The charity was growing bigger then we had anticipated and the need for our service was greater than we could supply.”
Despite the closure of Cymru Community Foodshare, Michelle confirmed she would be lending her support to two new groups - Conwy Foodshare and another foodshare scheme in Bangor - who also accept public donations of food.
She said: “We are delighted to be able to help two new groups that are setting up locally. All our assets and food will be transferred to these two new groups.
“We cannot thank the public, enough, the churches and local businesses who have supported us, without their help we could not have delivered over 500 free food parcels to local people in crisis. We wish the new Foodshares every success and hope that the local public will continue with their support.”
The news comes just weeks after the official launch of Crest Co-operative’s FareShare scheme, which accepts donations from local food suppliers that would otherwise be sent to landfill.
Sharon Jones, Development Director at Crest Co-operative, Llandudno Junction, said: “FareShare North Wales run by Crest Co-operative has been providing free food to Cymru Community Food Share for the past three months. We are extremely sorry that the service has stopped.”