Clapham Park Foodbank News
All Nations Baptist Church The Bonneville Centre 12 Poynders Road SW4 8NY www.claphampark.foodbank.org.
September 2018
Metropolitan Housing raise valuable funds for Clapham Park Foodbank A group of 18 volunteers, organised by Metropolitan Housing, cycled sponsored circuits to raise £1,800 for Clapham Park Foodbank. The team from the housing association completed their ride in late May. Before the cycle,
the group organiser, Richard Laidlaw, took time out to visit the Foodbank, and learnt all about how the money raised would be put to good use. Metropolitan Housing have been a long-term supporter of Clapham Park Foodbank, also
Thank you to everyone who came to our summer Tesco Collection Our volunteers took to Tesco on Clapham South Side in early July to raise food donations at our summer collection. Thanks to your generous support, we
collected enough to fill our van three times over! Our next Tesco Collection will take place on Friday November 30 and Saturday December 1.
Clapham Park Foodbank is a Trussell Trust Foodbank.
donating crucial extra warehouse space, in which we store surplus food stock. We are incredibly grateful for their fundraising efforts, and would like to extend our thanks to Richard Laidlaw for organising the sponsored cycle!
Meet our Volunteers I wanted to volunteer with the Foodbank as I wanted to give up a few days of my week to help people in need. There’s always people who need help. The Foodbank shouldn’t be here, as everyone should have food to eat. It needs to be here though, and it is so important. The clients are so grateful for our help.
Shaun I’ve lived in Clapham for 18 years. I was in the Irish guards, and so I used to work as a fulltime reserve at Blackheath. I first heard about the Foodbank from Penny, the Foodbank manager. Currently, I work as the caretaker of St. Thomas’s and St Stephens’ churches in Clapham and Balham, so I know Penny from there. She mentioned that the Foodbank needed a van driver and I wanted to volunteer. I’ve been driving the van since January.
"THE FOODBANK SHOULDN’T BE HERE, AS EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE FOOD TO EAT. IT NEEDS TO BE HERE THOUGH. IT IS SO IMPORTANT"
Clapham Park Foodbank is a Trussell Trust Foodbank.
When I volunteer, I come in and get the van, and then drive down to Waitrose and Tesco to pick up food. I pick up the food from the donation boxes, but I also spend money that has been donated to us to get things that the Foodbank urgently need. The staff at the shops are really generous, and often help us to exchange perishables and other food that we cannot use for things that we can. Once I bring the food back, I help unpack it and store it in the back. If there are elderly or young clients who are struggling to carry packages that we give them, I offer to drive them home. I think that the Foodbank is important as it helps people who are stuck. For a single mum for example, there aren’t many choices they have if they don’t have enough money to feed their kids – sometimes the parent has to go hungry. The Foodbank stops people from having to make these hard decisions. Volunteering with the Foodbank makes me feel good – life is too short not to do something worthwhile.
Our Foodbank in Numbers In the first half of 2018 we opened 50 times registering over 1,000 volunteer hours. Why do our clients need support?
We met 494 referrals, who were signposted to us by a range of different referral agencies
Other 17%
Benefit Changes 18%
Sickness 3% Homelessness 6%
We distributed enough food packages to feed 851 people including 210 children. These packages weighed in at 10,070kg!
Benefit Delays 21%
Low Income 35%
We received 6,621 kg of donations from local people and groups. Thank you!
How Our Foodbank Works Step 1 Non-perishable food is donated by the public.
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Frontline care Vouchers are Foodbank Volunteers professionals give exchanged welcome clients and Foodbank vouchers for 3 days of food. pack food for them. people in crisis.
Step 5 Volunteers listen to client problems and signpost them to further support.
Clapham Park Foodbank is a Trussell Trust Foodbank.
Can You Help? Our Foodbank would not exist without the generous support of the local community Visit our website: www.claphampark.foodbank.org.uk
Donate By donating money, you will be helping with the costs of running our van, office and storeroom. Please see the Give Help section of our website for how to donate in this way. If you want to donate food or toiletries, please visit our online shopping list. This catalogues items that we are in urgent need of. Please bring donations during our opening hours (listed below). Our next Tesco Food Collection will take place from November 30 - December 1 at Clapham South Side Tesco!
Volunteer There are a variety of opportunities to support our Foodbank through volunteering. Currently, we are in need of Schools Liaison volunteers, and Signposting Research volunteers. Please visit our website to find out more.
Fundraise Fundraising is a great way to support our work. We are always grateful for individuals and groups who commit time to supporting us through fundraising! If you're keen to fundraise, please email us at the address below. For some fundraising ideas, check out the News section of our website.
If you're in trouble We want to help Contact us now
We Run: Tuesday 11-2pm, Friday 11-2pm Email; info@claphampark.foodbank.org.uk Telephone: 0208 675 7661