VicRelief Foodbank announced yesterday it would pay for the training of two volunteers and establish a food safety plan for the foodbank.

The organisation also offered to temporarily reinstate the agency’s registration to give it time to meet new registration requirements that came into force in July.

Albury’s Foodbank, which did not have funding for accreditation, continued handing out food to families in need until the centre ran out of substantial food on Thursday and was forced to close.

The Albury centre is considered part of Victoria but was not included in the Victorian Government’s round of funding for accreditation and training.

However, VicRelief Foodbank’s manager of rural community support Trevor Barker said the Albury Foodbank was an important part of the community and gave the agency a lifeline.

Mr Barker said his organisation could start supplying the agency with food immediately.

“Over the next four weeks we can help the volunteers register for accreditation and give them additional time to establish the processes to continue to operate,” he said.

But spokeswoman for Albury Foodbank, Vivien Voss, who had been fighting for funding since March, said she would have to recruit volunteers to undertake the required accreditation training.

She also said the training was not a process that could be done overnight.

“The offer would have been nice a few months ago but we are happy the offer has been made,” Ms Voss said.

“I have told them we can’t do all this before Christmas, it’s just not possible.

“TAFE closes in a few weeks and it’s something that will take time to complete.”

Ms Voss said it would be unlikely the centre would open before the middle of January.

Over the past year the Albury Foodbank serviced 1500 families with canned, bottled and dried food.

The agency will still hand out $50 Safeway vouchers to needy families.