When you go to The Need to Feed Facebook page, you see the line "free food, exactly what it is".

But what the service provides for Barry residents is so much more.

Vicky Lang is a survivor engagement officer for Welsh Women's Aid, and felt compelled to set up a service that would help the local community through lockdown and beyond.

"It's wording it so that people understand, that's what I find hard," said Vicky.

"I can't narrow it down to one aim or objective. The way I look at it is that there's plenty of food banks around, but we're not one.

"We don't judge and there's no paper work to fill out. If people feel they need food, they can come along. If they need something else, we'll help them with that too.

"There is a massive need and a missing link between what is being offered and who is missing out."

Vicky was already donating surplus food to homeless people at her own expense before lockdown, but decided to help families struggling to make ends meet after hotels offered homeless people a place to stay.

On Monday-Friday from 11.45am, The Need to Feed opens for people to come and collect a bag of food, which Vicky gathers from various supermarkets and food retailers by networking with the managers.

In the first week of the service, in June, 16 families came to Vicky for help.

The next week, 165 families collected food. Now The Need to Feed helps 465 families each week, with four or five new enquiries a day.

"There were families that were left with nothing when the furlough scheme came into place, so I wanted to bridge the gaps that were missing in the charities that were available," said Vicky.

Eight years ago, Vicky herself was in crisis, having left a relationship due to domestic violence.

"I had no support, no family. I left the relationship and was homeless with two children, it was a nightmare," she said.

"I've managed to get back on my feet and I wanted to give back.

"I thought of all the services that failed me and thought 'how can I turn this into a positive?'

"So, I set up a service that doesn't ask you to fill out millions of forms, or to deal with it all yourself, so we can get people out of the crisis to be able to help themselves."

To help anyone in crisis, The Need To Feed works with a range of local facilities. At Woody's Lodge at the Amelia Trust Farm, war veterans struggling with trauma and PTSD can find help.

When refuge centres are open, they deliver food to people living there, and also help rebuild women's homes when they move from refuge, helping them get back on their feet.

The Need To Feed also works with a primary school nuturing scheme to provide fresh fruit and breakfast to children from difficult home situations.

Vicky works with charities who deal with people in crisis, to help where those charities aren't able because their funding won't allow it.

Providing such a range of services to anyone that needs it has meant Vicky could not access some funds and grants, so she funds the project herself and relies on donations from local people.

"I've had a lot of people questioning whether people would abuse the service, but my response is that I'll be the judge of that, because obviously it's my money funding this," she said.

"A lot of people have benefitted from the service in one way or another, so once they're back in a position where they can help us, they donate.

"No matter how big or small, to me every contribution is massive for their own reasons. £5 to some is £100 to someone else.

"Every penny helps, I'm not judging if you only put 50p in, because that 50p will go towards something."

Vicky runs the service from her own home, because the cost of renting a garage is too high. Lockdown has meant adapting to new rules, and she was grateful for the support form Darren Evans Flooring.

"He wanted to know how to help, I mentioned how having a conservatory would be good, and the next day he showed up with the boys to help," said Vicky.

"He contributed the flooring and foundation towards a conservatory in about two weeks, which could have taken ages to get done.

"Things like that help us towards becoming a constituted charity. It's amazing it's gone up that quickly, and he made a massive contribution to the page as well."

As Christmas approaches, The Need to Feed will be putting together 60 food hampers, and 30 baby hampers containing nappies, wipes, and home cleaning essentials.

Vicky relies on her team of seven volunteers, who she describes as her "dream team".

"I try to employ the 'unemployable', if that makes sense. One volunteer is a single mum with four children, one is terminally ill and can't work because any time he is honest about his health, they won't give him a job," said Vicky.

"Another is a young gentleman with autism and learning disabilities, and he is one of our hardest workers."

Vicky would like to expand by training someone to do what she does in other areas of the Vale or Cardiff, and buying a refrigerated van through sponsorship from the supermarkets that donate food.

"I can only see it getting worse," said Vicky.

"More people are losing their jobs, and people from Cardiff are hearing about us now.

"I wish I could help everyone that comes to me, and that makes me want to grow the service so that we can apply for funding."