Staff and patients at St Andrew’s have been praised for being “overwhelmingly generous” for donating large bundles of food packets for struggling families in Northampton this Christmas.

The town’s Mayor received the goods on Wednesday after the charity agreed to support her food donation drive this festive season.

Councillor Rufia Ashraf, who was elected in May, said: “The staff at St Andrew’s have been overwhelmingly generous in gifting food supplies for my campaign this Christmas. I knew people here are kind hearted and cared so I had a feeling we’d be inundated. But, what I wasn’t expecting was service users to also donate. What a meaningful and heartwarming gesture.

“The staff and patients at St Andrew’s have managed to fill every inch of my car with donations, which will go a long way this December in ensuring struggling children, families and people living on the streets are fed during the cold winter months.

“I feel very strongly about helping people and making sure that no one goes hungry this Christmas. I would like to thank Jess, the CEO of St Andrew’s for getting behind the campaign and for all the staff and patients for donating so generously.”

CEO of St Andrew’s Jess Lievesley said: “We’re proud to have been asked to support the Mayor for this incredibly important campaign, providing our local community with a helping hand this Christmas.

“We’re a family here at St Andrew’s and when staff are called upon to help, we come together to do all that we can. We’re blown away that some of our patients wanted to support the campaign too and we very much hope that our donations will help spread a bit of festive cheer this Christmas.”