FOOD banks face their most frantic period at Christmas says Kathleen Neilly, the general manager of a site that offers aid to struggling communities that were once the beating heart of Scotland's mining communities.

"I think it's the kids who are in the worst state because you can see the panic in their eyes," says Neilly, who leads a team of volunteers at the West Lothian food bank.

This year toys and selection boxes will be handed out to the children of families referred to the service, which is run by the Trussell Trust charity. It's perhaps a departure from the role often associated with food banks in the public mind.

The main problem facing West Lothian food bank, which has reached its fifth birthday, is not a lack of food donations from the public,

it's a desperate shortage of "hard cash" to help with running costs to make sure those in need get help.

The food bank, which helps an estimated 4,000 families a year, is having to get by using a makeshift storage facility in Whitburn as its HQ.

Clients are referred to it from former pit and factory villages such as Bathgate, Armadale, Broxburn and Blackburn, as well as Whitburn itself – all areas scarred by poverty and the impact of de-industrialisation .

However, the cramped holding centre is struggling to cope with the 50,000 tonnes of food it receives a year. The donations come in even thicker and faster in the run up to Christmas.

With such cramped storage space, distributing the donations to those in need is harder than ever.

A lack of funds to pay for new premises means, West Lothian is struggling to store all the items that arrive from benefactors.

Neilly says the food bank needs a more spacious building for its HQ to store food before they then move out to distribution centres.

She says: "I think the majority of people think we're run by the council, but we're not, half are run by churches and the rest are independent.

"People see food banks on the telly and they see people queuing up and the think that we just give them a bag of food and shut the door.

"We're not like that – we sit them down and have a chat and crucially understand their needs and signpost them to the services who can help. This is a key part of what we do."

Speaking as she collects donations at Tesco's Bathgate store, Neilly says the poorest families feel the pain during the festive season.

"We really see it at this time of the year," she says. "But people are really generous," Neilly adds as she takes a two-minute breather from collecting donations from shoppers on a busy Friday morning.

"We're giving out toys and selection boxes this year," she says.

"There's also toiletries for adults and in the last few years we've started giving a bag of toiletries to the adults. We say 'this is for you', but they don't believe it."

Neilly started working for the food bank when she became sick and fell on hard times. After working as a volunteer, Neilly eventually became a full-time employee running the food bank.

Neilly says the food bank is unable to afford a bigger premises, which would also allow the food bank to do more to help clients referred to it.

Neilly says: "The problem that we have is that we've had to find bigger premises – ideally we need a good-sized warehouse.

"But as yet we don't have one. We're miles away from it though as we don't have the money to pay for it."

Food bank deputy manager Marshall Green, who is busy taking donations near the Tesco check-out, echoes Neilly's concerns.

He said: "This would make a lot of difference and be a lot easier for volunteers and those we help. We should manage just this Christmas, but we do need more storage space for next year."

Lothian Labour MSP Neil Findlay, a longstanding supporter of the food bank, said the main problem facing it is a lack of funding to pay for infrastructure.

He said: "It's not getting the food in that's the problem. It's the cash for infrastructure to help distribute it."

The easiest way to donate would be through the Trussell Trust website www.trusselltrust.org, you can either donate to them or search for your local food bank.

The West Lothian food bank can be found at westlothian.foodbank.org.uk