THOUSANDS of pounds from across the globe and donations of computer equipment have flooded in to Oldham Foodbank after its offices were ransacked a few days ago.

More than £7,000 has so far been pledged on the charity’s JustGiving page after news of the raid at the Three Crowns Centre in Manchester Street was published by The Oldham Times.

An anonymous local businessman has donated a new computer to replace the one which was stolen in the burglary on the weekend of January 6 and 7.

The thieves removed a pane of glass at the rear of the centre and ripped doors off filing cabinets and rifled through the drawers of manager Lisa Leunig’s desk.

They stole a computer hard drive containing client information – password protected – three tablets and £200 cash.

Lisa told The Oldham Times: “So far we’ve been given £7,000 and money is still coming in. We’ve had donations from as far away as America, Switzerland and Malta. News of the break-in appears to have gone viral.

“We’ve got a grand new computer being delivered and Tesco has also donated a laptop and tablet.

“People are also walking in off the street and giving us money, sometimes handing over £10 or £20 notes.

“I just can’t find words to say how grateful we are for people’s amazing generosity. Thank you doesn’t seem to be enough.”

Meanwhile, police are investigating after the names of potential suspects who may have carried out the raid were posted on Facebook and Twitter.

“According to the police, who have checked for fingerprints, the raiders wore gloves,” added Lisa.

However, Lisa said the influx of cash would enable to foodbank to step up its security at the centre.

“We’ve always had generous donations of food,” she added. “But we’ve never had much cash to spend on things like security. But now we will be able to protect ourselves from the reoccurrence of this, thanks to the public’s amazing generosity.”