The Prince and Princess of Wales have stepped in to help after a foodbank was ransacked by thieves.

The Pecan foodbank was hit at the weekend in a “hammer blow” leaving hundreds of families struggling. But when William and Kate, both 42, saw thousands of pounds worth of food and hygiene products had been stolen from Pecan food bank in Peckham, they made a private donation.

It is not the first time the couple have tried to help people in need. The couple previously made a private donation in July to support victims of Hurricane Beryl, after the powerful storm swept through the Caribbean.

The Prince and Princess of Wales visited the area in 2022 as part of a royal tour to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. This latest sweet gesture comes as the couple face their own struggles with Kate focusing on “being cancer free” after her chemotherapy course came to an end.

In an open and revealing film she told of the importance of “loving and being loved”. The Pecan food bank in Peckham said they were “overwhelmed” by the support from “across society” and wanted to say a “huge thank you” to the royal couple.

The head of the south London food bank has said he has been “heartened by the surge of generosity” from people. The Southwark Foodbank, which is operated by Pecan on Peckham High Street, was targeted by thieves on Sunday morning.

Pecan’s chief executive Peter Edwards said about £3,000 of food and hygiene products were taken, as well as a laptop. They said on X, formerly Twitter : “A huge thank you to @Kensingtonroyal who have donated to the recovery effort following the theft of £3K of food supplies from @southwarkfoodbk.

“All at @Pecan121a have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from across society. Food stocks are being replenished now.” The Christian charity describes their role as “Transforming lives through kindness, belief, hope.”

The Metropolitan Police were called to their food bank building on Monday morning following a report of a burglary and no arrests have been made. Mr Edwards told BBC London: “It’s had a devastating impact and it hits the most vulnerable people in our community.

“We’re all emotionally invested in the services we provide; we’re only here to help other people so it’s a hammer blow when something like this happens.” He said the team was “working very hard” to make sure none of their clients went without food parcels.

“We’ve got enough in house now to keep serving people in need, but it’s important that we continue to fundraise on an urgent scale.” Mr Edwards also said the theft added costs such as “staff time, and all the things that you’re not doing because you’re dealing with the result of a crime on your premises”.

The team, he said, was now “busting a gut” to think of ways to fundraise to replenish the lost stock. “We need to rebuild our warehouse… to get back to 100%.”

Head of food services at the food bank, Shahid Mughal said: “The first thing they saw was that the shutter had been lifted and the glass had been broken. The team on Monday felt quite deflated because there’s a lot of hard work that goes into collecting the food.”

He added: “The community here is tremendous, they give us large amounts of food on a weekly basis and to have lost all of that is problematic.” Mr Mughal said the theft would also have a “substantial impact” on the community because the food bank helps about 4,000 people a year, giving out parcels to about 100 households a week.