A kind-hearted teenager enlisted Bradford Council in helping poorer families this Christmas.

Councillors and staff donated food to Bradford Metropolitan Food Bank at the latest full Council meeting.

The haul is now being distributed to needy families across the district.

Food bank volunteers said the response to the call was overwhelming – with the mound of goods given by politicians and council workers being equivalent to 50 carrier-bags-full.

Treasurer Keith Thomson said: “I’ve collected four large plastic tubs full of cans, Christmas puds, and so on.

“The response has been quite remarkable. We are very, very grateful to all members.”

The collection was organised by Coun Gill Thornton (Lab, Royds), but she said the idea had originally come from her 13-year-old daughter, Lara.

She said: “We were doing a bit of shopping when she noticed somebody was collecting for a food bank. She suggested we should do a bit more.”

Coun Thornton said she encouraged all councillors to bring a few items of food to the meeting, in which they were discussing Government cuts to council tax benefits.

She said: “It just shows that when we are going into a meeting where we are taking about cuts that are going to hit some of the hardest hit people in the district, this is a way of saying we do know the impact that it’s going to have and we all, individually, want to do something to help.”

Coun Thornton and her daughter visited the food bank at its weekly meeting, on Wednesday evening, to help organise the food into packs. It is now making its way to vulnerable families across the district.

Coun Thornton said Lara had decided to become a regular volunteer and was trying to organise another food collection at her school, Beckfoot in Bingley, in January – when poorer families were being hit by their Christmas bills.

A raffle also held at the Council meeting raised £220 for the food bank, with the Lord Mayor, Councillor Dale Smith, topping the cash up to £500.

e-mail: claire.armstrong@telegraphandargus.co.uk