Welcome to the Southend Foodbank newsletter, keeping you up-to-date with what we're doing and how you can support us.
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6 years of Southend Foodbank #6forSouthend
Southend Foodbank has been open for 6 years and we’re looking back at some of the changes and challenges. We’re often asked: why does our community need a foodbank? And: what needs to change to make things better for people so they don’t have to use a foodbank?
To begin to answer questions like these, Trussell Trust has researched hunger and household food poverty in the UK over the last 3 years and reported their key findings last week. The State of Hunger report found:
- “Problems with the benefits system were widespread – two-thirds of people who have used a food bank in the Trussell Trust’s network had had a problem with the benefits system in the year before they needed emergency food. Ill health and challenging life experiences like eviction or divorce are also pushing many people into hunger and poverty, and many either don’t have or have exhausted formal and informal support options.”
We see similar trends across 6 years of Southend Foodbank. Many of our guests report low income or problems with benefit payments as the main reason for needing to visit the foodbank, and debt, ill health and domestic violence are also common reasons.
Click here for the full animated version of 6 years of reasons for referral to Southend Foodbank.
Read more from the State of Hunger report to find out more about what’s going wrong and what needs to change to tackle household food poverty in the UK.
Check our social media accounts for more updates and stories from the foodbank and join in our #6forSouthend campaign.
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Can you donate food this week?
These are the most urgently needed items:
- UHT milk, especially semi-skimmed
- Tinned potatoes
- Tinned meat meals (mild curry, chili con carne, meat pies, meatballs)
- Tinned custard
- Long life sponge or puddings
- Long life fruit juice or fruit squash
- Tea bags or small jar of coffee
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Find your nearest drop-off point southend.foodbank.org.uk/give-help/donate-food/
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Reverse advent calendar
A reverse advent calendar starts out as an empty box that you add something to every day and give away at the end. The Southend Foodbank reverse advent calendar starts in December to donate in January, keeping the season of giving and goodwill going all the way into the new year. You can download the calendar or follow along on Instagram.
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Christmas giving
If you are planning to give Christmas or festive treats to the foodbank, please make sure you donate with plenty of time for us to share them across all our sites.
The central warehouse supplies 7 different distribution centres across Southend and Rochford and we rely on volunteer drivers to deliver to each location. That means it can take a few days between collecting donations and getting food boxes to every part of our local network. To make sure special or festive items are given to people visiting the foodbank in plenty of time for Christmas, please aim to donate by 4th December if possible.
Advent calendars need to be donated as soon as possible to make sure they are given out before it’s time to open the first door!
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Dates for your diary
Tesco collection 21st-23rd November
It’s our big Tesco collection across three days at Tesco Prince Avenue. Give us a cheery wave if you see us, take a shopping list and donate if you can #EveryCanHelps.
Last year about 10% of all the food people gave to the foodbank was donated at collection days at Tesco. Getting lots of donations at this event makes the difference between coping with or struggling to meet the extra needs local people have across the winter. We’ll be at the store 9am-5pm Thursday, Friday and Saturday and the warehouse will have extended opening hours too, to take in all the food that comes from the store.
Leigh Lights 29th November
Leigh Lights 2019 have chosen Southend Foodbank as one of the charities to support this year. We will have collection tins in several venues and a pop-up stand where we’ll be answering questions and taking donations. Exact location to be confirmed, but look out for us, have a chat if you want and give if you can. More on Leigh Lights and the yuletide parade on the town council website: leighonseatowncouncil.gov.uk/events/217/Leigh-Lights-2019
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Thank you!
A very special thank you to the anonymous donor who responded to our call for Lidl vouchers in print newspapers last week. Opening up the warehouse to find an envelope containing not just the voucher but also £40 in cash, the minimum spend needed to use the voucher in store, was amazing. It was such a kind and generous donation. The food bought with the money and voucher is on our shelves, and some has already gone out in food boxes. Thank you, whoever you are!
Thank you to Mrs Whitehead and children from Thorpe Hall School who visited the foodbank this week. The students helped with finding best before dates, marking up items and using the big weighing scales.
Thank you to Dawn and John at Herschel Advisory for donating bulk-buy items straight to the warehouse. They arrived on a very busy day at the exact moment we were working out if we needed to buy some essentials to get through the week’s food boxes, bringing some of the items we were desperately short of. Perfect timing and a very generous amount of food donated.
Thank you to Jenny at the Medau Society for arranging a collection for the foodbank and thank you to everyone at the Medau Movement class for giving so generously.
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