A TEAM of four water workers have spent their day helping out at their local food bank.

Volunteers from Northumbria Water’s marketing team spent the morning helping out at County Durham Food Bank in Chester-le-Street.

They spent their time packing and labelling food boxes and separating individual portions out of donations of large bagged products, such as sugar.

Marketing executive, Louise Fenwick, from Chester le Street, said: "Food banks are vital for people who find themselves in short-term financial crisis for reasons such as redundancy, a delay in benefits, illness or family break up, and are unable to afford to buy basic provisions.

"The food bank takes donations from the public, schools, churches, businesses and supermarkets of non-perishable, in-date food which is then stored at different locations across the region before being packed into boxes.

“It helps around 1,300 people in the region each month."

Boxes are issued to people who have been given a voucher by organisations such as housing charities, Citizen's Advice Bureau, health visitors or social services and each box contains enough nutritionally-balanced food for three days.

The team volunteered as part of Northumbrian Water's Just an Hour scheme where employees can spend work time helping out in their local community.

If you are interested in volunteering, or would like to make a donation, visit durhamfoodbank.org for more information.