Volunteers receive prestigious award from town council

Salvation Army food bank volunteers pick up award for community group of the year

A group of volunteers have been thanked and named as the Prescot Community Group of the Year for 2025 at a coveted awards ceremony for the services they give to a local food bank. 

The Salvation Army in Prescot, located on Warrington Road, holds a weekly food bank with over 20 volunteers giving up their time to the running and organisation of the service which supports vulnerable members of the local community as more people find themselves pushed into poverty. 

Presented with the award and recognised for their work by Prescot Town Council, the army of volunteers come from a variety of backgrounds: retired teachers, medical professionals including a retired doctor and an anaesthetist, as well as retail and office workers ensuring that the food bank can operate each week. 

Long established within the Prescot community, the food bank, which opened 12 years ago, works via a referral process from a range of organisations including doctors, schools and social services. 

Retired paediatrician Hope, 81, from Prescot has volunteered at the food bank since it first opened in 2013. She said: “When we first opened, we had no idea who we would see and help and how long it would last, but now more than a decade later there has been a dramatic shift in the food bank service: the need has changed, the people have changed. To start with there was maybe a few people a month using the service, now we are seeing different people come every week, new faces, families, working people on low incomes, people who can’t work, people whose benefits have been sanctioned, people struggling to make ends meet and where at first it was just food that we were providing, now it is toiletries too and full wrap around support. 

“I’ve always wanted to help people, and my professional career equipped me to see the reality of some people’s lives, the vulnerability some people can experience but I know that every volunteer does it because they care and it is an important part of our lives, giving us a purpose. It is a privilege to receive this award and for all of us to be recognised and thanked.”

Volunteers who work in the food bank greet clients, collect donations, sort through products and pack food parcels, even on occasions delivering to people’s houses if required. 

Major Bryn Hargreaves, church leader of The Salvation Army Prescot said: “Volunteering isn’t just about helping - it is about being an active and integral part of an organisation, supporting with love and care so that work can continue. All our volunteers help others selflessly with such dedication and are an important part of our church and our community, we simply couldn’t do what we do without them, we couldn’t do it on our own and they make it all possible.

“I’m proud that the team has been acknowledged in this way, getting the gratitude they so rightly deserve and the recognition for what they do for their local community, from their local community. Every single one is valued.”

The food bank runs on Wednesdays from 12:00pm – 2:00pm. For people who don’t have a referral, self-referrals are accepted on the day.