A food bank has gained charity status after supporting those in need for ten months.

The Eat or Heat food bank, based at the Quaker Meeting House in Jewel Road, Wlathamstow, has gone from handing out a few bags of food on a Friday afternoon to giving out more than 30 bags of food a week.

At the same time food bank organiser, Gary Nash, has been applying to register Eat or Heat as a charity.

He has now received confirmation from the Charity Commission.

In an email the Commission said: “We are now satisfied that you are an organisation that works purely for the good of the community.”

Mr Nash said he felt “pure and utter joy” at the decision, which he says will open many doors for the organisation.

Eat or Heat will now be able to work with supermarkets, which often stipulate they only work with registered charities, and apply for lottery funding to expand its services.

Mr Nash said: “It legitimises what we do and shows that we are just working for the community.”

Mr Nash hopes the new charitable status will bring more funding in so they can train volunteers to give advice to people using the food bank on how to get themselves out of financial hardship.

Mr Nash would like to thank his core volunteers and trustees, Nat Di Maggio, Gill Scott and Clive and Cornelia Bower for all their hard work.