OXFORD Food Bank is hungry for volunteers to help make Christmas Day special for hundreds of people who face spending it alone.

With the festive season just around the corner, the charity is appealing to the goodwill of the community to give them a helping hand with their celebrations.

Volunteers are already pulling out all the stops to once again feed up to 400 people on December, 25 at the King's Centre in Osney Mead.

But the lunch needs a whole host of volunteers to make sure the festivities go off with a bang.

Operations manager Cathy Howard said: "We want to be serving up a good helping of festive cheer, not just a good Christmas lunch."

"It would be awful if people came along and then sat on their own, not talking to anyone.

"That is not what Christmas is all about."

Anyone is invited to the meal, from those who are on the streets to those facing Christmas alone.

Last year, hundreds of people gathered at the King's Centre, including some Syrian refugees who had recently arrived in the city.

As well as support to cook up the feast, decorate the hall and lay out tables and chairs, volunteers are also needed to pick up guests and sit with them to enjoy the meal together.

Ms Howard added: "It is all about coming together as a community.

"So it is important that our volunteers do not just do the cooking or the transportation, they then need to enjoy the lunch with all the other guests."

Having grown over the years, Oxford Food Bank now serves around 80 charities and organisations in Oxford, Abingdon, Didcot and Bicester, helping to feed thousands across the county every week.

With relationships well established with supermarkets and wholesalers, Oxford Food Bank is able to re-distribute fresh food, that would have otherwise gone to landfill, to those truly in need in the county.

As well as its Christmas bonanza, new chairman of trustees, Paul Medley, said it had several other exciting projects up its sleeve.

He said: "In terms of geographical expansion, we would really have to start up a completely new base, which overcomplicates the simple set up we have.

"What we want to do instead is start running food workshops, for those that need guidance in how to look after themselves properly.

"Using the fresh food we have donated to us, we would have volunteers show residents how they can cook a cheap, healthy meal using fresh ingredients.

"Unfortunately there is this misconception that healthy, good food is more expensive than a multi-pack of crisps - that is not the case."

As well as introducing the food workshops, the food bank will be expanding its fleet with its fourth van.

But Mr Medley fears that the charity will be called upon more often as the county begins to feel the full effects of the introduction of Universal Credit - a change in the way benefits are distributed.

Rolled out in Oxford last month, the scheme has come in for criticism as it sees claimants having to wait at least six weeks for the first payment, leading some to fall into debt.

Mr Medley added: "Although the introduction of Universal Credit has been relatively new in Oxfordshire, from what I have already seen in the media I think we will have increasing demand from the organisations.

"We are a little bit like the middle man, I think we will see perhaps larger requests from the places we support as they see more people turning to them for help."

On a weekly basis the food bank receives around 450 tonnes of food, which is used to make around 10,000 meals in the county.

One such organisation to benefit from its generosity is Donnington Doorstep, a family centre in East Oxford.

Finance and Operations Manager Noora Firaq said they would not be able to provide their heavily subsidised hot meals without the food bank.

She added: "We completely rely on their generous donation because all the money we have goes on the building, the electricity, the kitchen.

"It is so important we can provide this service as it not only means people are getting decent food.

"It also encourages a sense of community as we all sit down together, adults and children, for lunch.

"I think their Christmas lunch is such a wonderful idea to make sure everybody has a special Christmas and the more people to help out the better."

For more information or to volunteer contact: Christmas@oxfordfoodbank.org