Renfrewshire Foodbank has announced it will not be accepting donations throughout January as part of the effort to halt the rapid spread of coronavirus.
Senior manager Elizabeth Alexander said she is concerned for people's safety with a new strain of Covid-19 causing a major surge in infection rates.
And although the charity has had stringent social distancing protocols in place at all its bases, staff have agreed even these may not be enough to protect people, with the new variant thought to be much more transmissible.
The charity has now asked people not to donate any items over the next few weeks, with bosses planning to review the situation towards the end of the month.
"We are now up against a new strain of the virus which is even more unpredictable than the first," said Elizabeth.
"Given the government is so concerned about its spread, we feel we should be reducing face-to-face contact as much as possible to protect donors, staff and volunteers and people who use the foodbank.
"We've decided not to take any donations during January because items are handled by so many people and we need to try and keep everyone safe."
The foodbank - which has distribution centres in Paisley, Renfrew and Johnstone - has received just under 106 tonnes of items since March last year.
And Elizabeth insisted putting a temporary stop on donations was only possible because residents had been so generous throughout the pandemic.
The selflessness of people across Renfrewshire has meant the charity has enough stock to last the month, but people are welcome to give cash donations online if they would still like to help the cause.
Elizabeth added: "The donations throughout this whole period have been tremendous.
"At the start of the pandemic, we had concerns about what impact panic buying might have on us, but we didn't actually find it a problem because the Renfrewshire people were so generous and we had plenty of stuff.
"It really has been incredible and we cannot begin to thank people enough because, again, we have plenty of stuff at the moment to get us through a few weeks. That's all through people's generosity, even if they could only offer a couple of items."
If people would like to make a cash donation, visit www.renfrewshire.foodbank.org.uk/give-help/donate-money/, where you can set up a regular direct debit or make a one-off gift.
