Extra help is being offered to families caught in the cost of living squeeze that means some will find it difficult, if not impossible, to put food on the table.

Kew Gardens Rotary is supporting the Richmond Foodbank at the Vineyard and has secured match funding from the National Emergencies Trust, which will boost donations.

The organisation said: "Families in the community are having to make an impossible choice between eating or heating their homes.

"We believe no one should go hungry. Rotary are supporting Richmond Foodbanks vital work.

"This will enable the foodbank to significantly increase the number of families it's able to support in the coming months."

The group has already raised close to £10,000 and it is now aiming for £15,000.

The organisation said: "During lockdown we have supported the Vineyard foodbanks each week with vital goods. This winter there is concern that foodbanks will be forced to turn hungry families away or reduce the size of food parcels.

"Increased demand is being triggered by the end of the COVID 19 furlough scheme and the withdrawal of the temporary £20 per week uplift to Universal Credit. Reliance on our foodbanks is increasing – they are a real lifeline.

"We aim to support over 100 families with your help."

Rising food prices and energy bills, with a further big increase due in October, are predicted to cause the squeeze on households since official records began in the 1950s.

Richmond Foodbank is part of a national network of foodbanks, one of over 168 foodbanks providing emergency food to people in crisis nationwide.

The Foodbank network is part of The Trussell Trust, a Christian charity committed to community action against poverty and marginalisation in the UK and Bulgaria

Visit Kew Rotary's crowdfunder website if you can help.