FIVE Coventry Foodbank supporters, including founder Gavin Kibble MBE, braved a 20-mile Foodbank-athon on bank holiday Monday, raising more than £2,000 for the charity.
Monday’s pilgrimage from west to east Coventry saw the group visit all 15 of the foodbank’s locations in just over eight hours.
The group, pushing a shopping trolley in front of them during the whole of their journey, started at the most westerly foodbank in Canley and ended at The Halo Centre headquarters in Binley.
Many of the foodbank centres opened up especially to greet the trekkers, with many of them offering cups of tea and cake.
Gavin came up with the idea for the ‘foodbank-athon’ to raise much-needed cash and awareness for Coventry Foodbank which is facing its highest-ever demand.
Currently, it is feeding 800 people each week – a huge increase from the 500 it was helping last January and 100 more than just four months ago.
The charity fed almost 30,000 people across the city in the 12 months from January 2022 – its second busiest year on record.
The event was also a significant chapter in an ongoing fitness regime for Gavin who has been working to return to good health since suffering a heart attack a year ago.
Gavin said: “It was a brilliant day and we were made so welcome wherever we went.
“We were joined by dogs on the walk at Stoke Aldermoor and a one-year-old toddler called Samson and his mum joined the Foodbank-athon on the leg from Walsgrave Baptist Church to St Catherine’s Church.
“Thank you to everyone who supported us – you have enabled us to provide emergency food to many people in our city.”
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