A Newcastle food bank which delivers emergency supplies to some of the East End's poorest families has had its only van written off after a crash.
Connect25 food bank was left "stranded" after the accident halted its deliveries to vulnerable people throughout Byker and Walker.
After putting out an appeal on social media the charity was given a short-term free loan of a vehicle by Enterprise Rent-A-Car, but needs to raise funds to replace its own vehicle as soon as possible.
Now volunteers have launched an online crowdfunding appeal for £15,000 to buy a new van.
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Connect25 has been going since 2015 and delivers to those in need within five miles of its Byker postcode "irrespective of their beliefs or background".
"We do a different kind of food bank, where we use a van to deliver to people's houses," said volunteer Bola Oluwatula.
"It's very helpful, because for people without cars it's bad enough they don't have food without coming all the way on public transport to pick it up.
"On average we deliver to 13 families or individuals daily, and we also support Changing Lives and the People's Kitchen.
"The van is very important for delivery of food to service users."
But their deliveries were halted when the van was involved in a crash with a taxi in Walker just over two weeks ago, leaving them struggling to reach people in food poverty.
"The insurance said what it would cost to repair it wouldn't be worth it," said Bola.
"As such we were stranded. Thankfully Enterprise have given us a van to use the week before Easter and last week free of charge, which has been amazing, but it's not something that can go on forever."
The online fundraising appeal has so far raised £360, but there is a long way to go to hit the £15,000 target.
Bola said: "We just want something to use for day to day running - we think £15,000 should get us something that's around four or five years old."
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