The community spirit is alive and kicking across Benfleet after a group of five volunteers decided to help out the elderly and vulnerable.

The Benfleet Community Helpers have raised over £7,000 and have in the space of a week delivered food parcels to more than 300 homes across Benfleet, Hadleigh, and Thundersley.

The group, run by Vicky, Mark, Chelsea, Natasha, and Andrew, are also collecting and delivering prescriptions for those who can’t get out and about.

The latest and largest donation came from the White Hart pub in Thundersley, which gave £2,500 to the cause.

A phone helpline has been set up for people to call if they need any food or supplies from the group.

Mark Dunn, who runs Penn UK in Benfleet, a shop which usually sells school uniforms, has turned his store into a ‘mini-warehouse.’

He told the Echo: “I offered to turn the shop into a drop-off place for the donations.

“We had 800 pineapples donated from a supplier.

“We’ve got loads of fruit and veg, as well as plenty of canned food.

“People are donating anything from £20 up to six bags of shopping.

“It’s been incredible.

“Food, toiletries and cleaning items have been flooding in from businesses and residents. As a team we are absolutely staggered at how this has taken off.”

Vicky Wallace, who originally started the group, described how the group are all pulling together, despite not knowing each other and never having met in person. The 26-year-old, said: “We’ve all got full time jobs but this is becoming a full time job too.

“We don’t know each other but we have become really good friends.

“We’re going to have a party when all of this is over.

“Morrisons are regularly donating food to us, as well as Aldi.

“My phone’s constantly ringing. It’s on 24/7 if people need to call.

“We’re doing around 40 deliveries a day. We deliver every day other than Sunday.”

The mum-of-one explained how grateful the group are for the community coming together. She said: “It feels like we’ve got the old Benfleet back where everyone helped each other out. It’s fantastic, long may it continue.

“We’re so thankful that so many people have donated food and money. We never thought it would go this far.

“It’s been really rewarding. The look on people’s faces when you give them the food. You can’t describe it.

“It’s been a real group effort.”

If you need support and want to get in touch with the Benfleet Community Helpers, call 07487769404, or find the group on Facebook.

The group currently has over 2,000 members.