THE Chepstow foodbank’s initial set-up costs will be aided by a £500 donation from the town council.

Members approved a request from the project’s coordinators at its end-of-July meeting, for funds to help buy a computer and printer, weighing scales and bags to put the food in.

The foodbank, with its headquarters in a room above the town arch, is on course to hand out its first food parcels by September.

This was after the community rallied round to help raise £1,500 for the Chepstow group to register with the Trussell Trust, a charity which fed 128,687 people in 2011-12 at its foodbanks across the UK.

Town councillors approved the funding request, following a presentation by two of the project’s co-ordinators, Ron Murphy and former councillor and town mayor Marian Lewis.

Cllr Yvonne Havard, who works for the town’s Citizens’ Advice Bureau, welcomed the plans.

“There is definitely a need.

There’s an awful lot of people living with extremely low incomes,” she said.

Food parcels of dried food will be handed out to crisis-hit residents in exchange for a voucher from local agencies such as Jobcentres and citizens’ advice bureaux.

Pastor Jim Davies, who heads the project, said thanks to the generosity of the council and the local community, the first food supplies could now be collected in preparation for the foodbank’s launch.

Anyone with dried food they wish to donate can drop it off at St Christopher’s Church in the town.

Agencies which would like to hand out vouchers to residents are asked to call Mr Davies on 07787 842002.