Dike’s director Adam Vincent (right) and Sherborne Food Bank communications volunteer Liz Murray (centre), with customers Mark and Tessa Woodhouse, who contributed a large amount of points to help take the total to more than £650 Picture: Dike & Son

Shoppers at Stalbridge store with “community at its heart” help families in need

Tait ap EllisMarch 4, 20250 Comment0

CUSTOMERS at a Stalbridge store have helped raise hundreds of pounds for Sherborne Food Bank.

The family-run food store Dike & Son ran a post-Christmas campaign to encourage shoppers to drop any loose change into collection buckets at the tills as well as asking people to donate their loyalty card points.

The success of this ‘Spare a Thought, Spare a Penny’ campaign means Dike & Son raised more than £650 over January and February.

This is on top of the donations already made to the food collection box in the supermarket’s foyer.

Money raised will support families that are struggling throughout the Blackmore Vale as the Sherborne Food Bank delivers emergency food parcels to those in need.

Chair of trustees at Sherborne Food Bank, David Kemp, has thanked the store for running the campaign.

“Dike & Son is a supermarket with community at its heart, and we are grateful for its continued support of the food bank,” he said.

“The Spare a Penny initiative, and generosity from Dike’s customers, ensures local families in need won’t go without food and essentials while facing challenges in their personal circumstances.”

Sherborne Food Bank made 1,884 emergency food deliveries, distributing 51,131 products and providing for some 5,000 adults and children during its 10th year as a registered charity in 2024.

This entirely volunteer-run charity relies on the generosity of the community to survive.

Dike & Son company director Adam Vincent said he is “overwhelmed” by the generosity of his customers who contributed throughout the campaign.

“Many of us have had that familiar moment of reaching the checkout only to realise we haven’t put anything into our basket for the food bank box, so a couple of years ago we set up our tills so that customers could opt to add an amount to their shopping bill instead,” he said.

“We then use the donations to purchase needed items from the list – at cost price – to put into the box.

“We also made it possible for our loyalty card holders to donate their points – each point is worth a penny – and we’ve been overwhelmed by our customers’ generosity at what is a difficult time of year for many people.”

The store’s community spirit has been recognised with numerous awards over the past ten years.

Its ‘Making a Difference’ charity fund has previously donated £2,000 to Sherborne Food Bank.

Dike & Son also picked up three national awards at the Retail Industry Awards ceremony in London in October last year – including being named Independent Supermarket of the Year (over 6,000 square feet).

Although the in-store campaign has now ended, the need for emergency food aid hasn’t, so Dike & Son is urging its customers to continue to support Sherborne Food Bank in any way they can.