John McGall runs the I am Reusable food bank in the Leeman Road area of the city, which was initially set up to help those in need through the pandemic, including NHS staff, has been inundated to the point that they have run out of food on several occasions recently.
For the past 16 years he has dedicated his time voluntarily to help improve the lives of the homeless, disabled and less fortunate people in York.
But now John says he needs to put in an application for retrospective planning permission.
John said: “We shouldn’t have to exist but as long as people need us we will be there. We operate from a shed in our garden and one anonymous person complained to the planning dept at the council two years ago. We have had many difficult discussions in the last two years, but the outcome is that we now need to put in an application for retrospective planning permission.
“A wonderful architect Neil Brown from Brown and company did free drawings for us but we needed to pay the fee to the council for the planning permission application of £1,000.
“If a valid application is not submitted in less than three months, the food bank will have to cease, the building be removed from the site and formal enforcement action will be considered by the council.”
A JustGiving page set up by John and his wife, Julie, has so far raised £1,815 in a matter of days.
John McGall at I am Resusable, which feeds hundreds of people every day (Image: Supplied)
John said: “Thanks to donations we have now raised the money, but the planning submission is just the first stage. If it fails then we will need to spend more on the updates needed to the shed structure etc.”
“If we have funds left over this will be spent on the shed fixtures, maintenance and decent CCTV to stop the regular theft of our food bank fixtures and fittings and own personal items from outside our home.”
The food bank is open from 10am-5pm, and they get deliveries from M&S, Sainsbury’s, Co-op and Pret a Manger as well as a lot of little independent traders in the city including the Bluebird Bakery and Love Cheese.
John said: “Our operation is full-time – it’s seven days a week with 60 volunteers and at the moment it’s my life, from getting up in the morning to going to bed at night.”
John has worked over the years to change the city’s attitudes on those who are homeless. He has been known to hand out hot drinks, snacks and warm clothes seven days a week to support those in need.
He won a Community Pride Award from The Press in 2020 when he was named Person of the Year.
Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, John continued to ask for support with food donations online while he was shielding from the virus due to past heart surgery.
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