Project Overview
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| Essential items purchased in bulk | Storage and fuel costs covered | Mobile phones purchased |
Hackney Food Bank, founded in 2012, is one of the busiest food banks in London. Its aim is to ensure no one in their local community goes hungry. The foodbank provides three days’ nutritionally balanced emergency food and support to local people who are referred to them in crisis. The food bank is part of a nationwide network of foodbanks supported by The Trussell Trust, which works to combat poverty and hunger across the UK. In 2018, it fed over 6,000 people.
During the COVID-19 crisis, Hackney Food Bank saw a surge in use following the closure of the Islington Food Bank. Isla’s grant has allowed Hackney Food Bank to:
- Buy much-needed items in bulk from wholesalers, which was incredibly difficult when supermarket shelves had all but dried up. This was essential as the number of people in need of emergency food parcels tripled at some of their centres, meaning they were feeding over 500 people a week.
- Hire more space from Access Storage, in order to store these larger quantities of food.
- Cover the fuel costs of the many crucial van journeys made by their foodbank van each week. At their busiest foodbank centre, they were having to send three vanloads of food parcels each week.
- Contribute towards mobile phones to enable shielding volunteers to assist them in alternative ways that did not put them at risk. This included phoning clients to signpost them to other organisations that could support with specific issues contributing to their poverty trap, such as debt advice, housing support, and fuel poverty.
