A free food lifeline in Great Yarmouth is appealing for help so that it can carry on providing meals.

The Pathway Cafe and Support Centre, in Admiralty Road, served up 7,733 meals to hundreds of people last year.

The centre is now collecting tokens for the EDP Community Chest, to help them with an ever growing demand for the meals.

Brian Thorne, who set up the centre which offers free lunches on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, said that the cost of the food per year is around £12,000.

He said: “We started in 2014 on Wednesdays and Fridays, and there was such a demand that we also started running the lunches on Saturdays.

“We have had some great help from businesses such as Nicholls Meat - who have given us £50 worth of meat every week - bread from Sainsbury’s, as well as donations from many other businesses who we would like to thank.

“However a grant like the community chest would be extremely beneficial for us, as it would allow us to cope with the demand and make sure we can carry on providing free lunches to those who might otherwise struggle to have one.”

Mr Thorne set up the centre after being involved with a similar project, called The Bridge, in Gorleston. He was shocked by the number of people struggling to cope in dire circumstances.

Those that attend the centre have included families and those who are homeless, marginalised, alcoholics, drug addicts and those with mental health problems.

The centres have 20 volunteers, some of which were previously clients.

It is based at the Minster Mission, on Admiralty Road. Many different support agencies visit the centre on the days that it is open to provide advice and support on issues which might affect the centre users.

Our sister paper, the Eastern Daily Press is giving away £100,000 throughout 2016, giving community groups the opportunity to receive a cash sum between £250 and £2,500.

In January there will be £15,000 on offer and 60 local organisations could get £250 apiece.

To put yourself in line for a cash boost, all you need to do is collect tokens printed daily on the back page of the EDP.

For more information, rules and an entry form visit www.edp24.co.uk/communitychest