Pet Food Bank ‘vulnerable’ without a premises as appeal continues

The founder of Melksham’s Pet Food Bank has said the service is ‘vulnerable’ without a premises in the town centre — especially as more residents are relying on the service.

Local resident Wendy Isaacs launched the Melksham Pet Food Bank in December 2022 to help ‘pets and their people’, ensuring owners can continue to feed their pets if they are struggling with the cost of living.

Wendy currently runs the food bank from her home in Berryfield. Food and accessories are donated at collection points around the town, which Wendy collects and brings home to make up care packages for residents in need.

However, she says that without a town centre base, it is becoming ‘overwhelming’ to manage the service from home — and the lack of a premises prevents her from growing the initiative and recruiting volunteers.

“One of the rooms in my house is kitted out for the bank — that’s the bank room. But donations overflow into another room,” explained Wendy.

“It’s fantastic how kind the Melksham community are and I’m so grateful for their support. Some of the donations we get are amazing, but I just haven’t got the time to sort it all.

“Everything is kept upstairs, so we’re carrying 15 kilograms of dog food and tins up and down the stairs. I have one woman who volunteers with me, but she can’t help all the time, and I’ve got an awfully bad back.

“Melksham people are amazing; I get donations from all over the country. We’re well stocked — I never refuse anything. If there’s something we can’t use, I’ll send it to another group who can, and they do the same for me. We bounce off each other.

“I belong to a bank alliance, so we get advice and support from them. We’re also part of the Blue Cross scheme set up with Pets at Home, so we take part in drives with them too. It’s hard work for one person.

“We sort everything into packages and then carry it all back downstairs. It’s overwhelming — sometimes I feel like I’m drowning.”

Wendy has been searching for a premises for the pet food bank since its launch nearly three years ago.

Last year, she expressed an interest in using a room in the Church Street toilets building, if Melksham Town Council were to take on the asset from Wiltshire Council, which closed the toilets in 2016 to save money.

However, the town council did not proceed with the asset transfer due to the cost of taking on and repairing the building.

“The toilet block would have been ideal,” said Wendy. “Another place I’ve looked at is the Rachel Fowler Centre. The front entrance isn’t normally used, only on rare occasions. It would be perfect for us — it has a connecting door to the hall, and we could help out in there too.”

With the pet food bank operating from her home in Berryfield, Wendy said she doesn’t feel the service is reaching the people who need it most.

“We’re not based in the town centre, and there are a lot of people who just can’t get to us. We really need somewhere central.

“I know there are lots of empty places in the town centre, but they’re too expensive for us to rent.”

Wendy said she has ‘held back’ on promoting the food bank because of the strain of managing it alone.

“If we had a premises, I could grow the service and have volunteers to help. But it’s vulnerable in its current form — if I go on holiday, I have to close. If I become ill, I have to close.

“I don’t think people are taking us seriously.”