NORTH Ayrshire Foodbank have issued a plea for help from locals after announcing they are "desperately" short of food at the moment.

And they are hoping people in the area can rally round them and give those in need what they can.

Craig Crosthwaite, co-ordinator of the foodbank, told the Herald about the the current shortage.

He explained: “North Ayrshire Foodbank has had a very busy summer and has utilised the wonderful donations given to it to ensure those presenting get a three-day emergency supply.

“In particular, over this period, the shoppers at our partnership supermarkets have been wonderful.

"For example the Tesco and Asda Irvine events raised two tonnes and 450 kgs of food respectively.

“Demand has been such that those stocks were depleted very quickly.

"The weekly inflow of food from the drop-bins at Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys and the Coop stores are crucial to sustaining this work.

“Despite the best actions of the Foodbank and its supporters we find ourselves facing a shortage of many food items to keep meeting the requests.

“The key items we have a shortage of includes tinned meat (stew, mince, chicken), pasta, pasta sauce, tinned custard, tinned rice pudding, tinned fruit, UHT blue milk, long life fruit juice and tinned vegetables.

"Last but not least we have also run out of beans."

Craig added: "It is three weeks until our next scheduled supermarket event and assistance to get through this period, as it is indeed across the year, is deeply appreciated.”