The three foodbanks throughout Furness helped over 500 people across September, with 2/5 of users being children.

Ulverston Foodbank announced that, over the past month, 532 people were fed thanks to the volunteer organisations.

The news coincided with the recent revelation that the number of locals using the foodbanks had increased by 32% in the past year.

A spokesperson for Barrow foodbank said: "We’ve seen a significant increase in foodbank use, this includes a lot of new people needing to use our service, mainly people who have fallen below the poverty line due to the cost of living crisis and significantly rising energy prices.

"This increase covers all types of people including elderly, vulnerable and young families, we support a lot of people with children."

Out of 532 users, 203 were children throughout the month of September, with the foodbank asking for 'urgent' donations ahead of the festive period.

The Christmas season is typically the busiest for these foodbanks, with last December seeing 897 people fed, of which 391 were children.

"The cost of living crisis has a double impact for us as food donations have dipped  - donations from individuals have reduced dramatically but we are still collecting notable amount from supermarkets.

"We have been purchasing some certain food items over the last few months as we have almost ran out of them completely and we have had to do a few social media campaigns for shortages."

In May and July this year, the number of visitors peaked in the 300s, though June saw 587 people being fed by the sites in Ulverston, Barrow and Millom.

Donations of food can be given at the Co-op (Market Street), Booths Supermarket, and St Mary’s Church (Victoria Road).

You can also donate at their centres at Bethany Christian Church, Abbey Road Baptist Church and Crown Street Baptist Church Hall during their opening hours.