A BRADFORD student has raised more than £600 for a city foodbank.

Ghazal Abbasi, who was born and raised in Bradford and is studying English Literature and History at the University of Edinburgh, was inspired to raise funds for Bradford Central Foodbank.

She said she acted after reading reports in the Telegraph & Argus about increasing levels of child poverty in the city and has now raised £622.

She said that the fundraising effort had "truly exceeded my expectations".

As a starting point, she said she and her dad, who lives in Little Horton, agreed to do a shop comprising solely of items found on the foodbank's 'Urgently Needed Items' list, when she was home for the Christmas holidays.

She said: "Being a final year student at the University of Edinburgh, however, meant that I didn't have the time or energy to fundraise for the charity like I'd initially planned - so I thought I'd combine the two activities.

"I simply made a video detailing what me and my dad were planning on doing and uploaded it to social media. I asked whether people would also like to contribute to the amount we were going to spend on the shop.

"The response over the past five days has been phenomenal. So far, given that an extremely kind donor has decided to match every donation given, £622 has been raised.

"Perhaps the most striking thing about this is my lack of agency in the whole affair - I am not holding a charity event, nor doing anything death defyingly spectacular to raise funds. I am completely taken aback by how willing everyone has been to just help.

"As well as this, because the plan was to do a food shop, and I didn't expect to raise more than £40, I provided my own bank details for people to give money to. The fact that everyone was so willing to donate into my account adds to the general feeling of goodwill and trust generated by this entire effort.

"It just goes to show how many people have Bradford's best interests at heart. At least half of the donors aren't Bradfordians, yet were moved by the statistics regarding the city's poverty that I included in the video.

"I thought this might be a lovely thing to share to bring to light how compassionate so many people are, as I have been truly bowled over by it."