Camden Foodbank

OUR FOOD IS GOING FAST!!!

WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!

PLEASE DONATE TO SUPPORT CAMDEN FOOD BANK AT THIS DIFFICULT TIME :  

HELP SO THAT CAMDEN FOODBANK CAN CONTINUE TO SUPPORT PEOPLE IN CRISIS!!

These are unprecedented times in all our lives!

As you are aware due to the Corona Virus situation, we are seeing unprecedented levels of clients attending the Camden food bank, everyone in need is coming to the Camden food bank and we are happy to help but the food is going quickly

The numbers we are dealing with now in March are the kind of high numbers we usually see in December at Christmas!

In the coming weeks more and more people are going to need help from the Camden food bank  

Needless to say if this continues all our projected food for the rest of the year will be gone in a few weeks

Please donate to support the Camden food bank and help us be able to support the Camden community and the wider London area.

This situation is further challenged by the fact that Camden food bank is also URGENTLY in need of space both for storage and foodbank operations...please donate to help us 

Our commitment is to stay open and to continue serving the community.

With your help, we will continue to serve the community during this period.

A big thank you to everyone who has sent us donations, but we definitely need more help to keep supporting our dear community.

Thank you

More about the current crisis

Last year Camden Foodbank supported over 5000 families across Camden with emergency food parcels, but Covid19 is impacting the service from several sides.

Covid19 is impacting Camden Foodbank in several different ways

1. We are sadly seeing increased demand across The Borough of Camden and only expect this to get higher.

2. We are seeing a reduction in donations as people's shopping habits are changing.

3. A number of our regular volunteers are from at risk groups so unable to work currently.

We need your urgent help to fund the purchase of the food that is required to fill this gap.

How you can help

If you can donate food then please do or give at one the link below - https://camden.foodbank.org.uk/give-help/donate-money/

If you cannot get to these locations then please give to this Crowdfunder project that will allow us to purchase the food we need.

Thanks so much for all your support at this time of need.

MORE ABOUT CAMDEN FOODBANK 

Camden foodbank was established by City RCCG Church London in Pratt Mews in December 2011, under the umbrella of The Trussell Trust. Our second centre opened in Lancing Street in August 2016. Weekly distribution now takes place from the two centres, and we have seen a tenfold increase in clients since 2012/13 to 3188 clients supported in 2015/16. Our main focus has been collecting sufficient donations of non-perishable food to meet the demand in Camden. During 2015/16 we collected and distributed nearly 30 tons of food!

In the borough of Camden, located in central London, there are a significant number of homeless people, and a high turnover and transience of the population generally. The wards with areas of greatest deprivation are Somers Town, Kings Cross, Regents Park, Camden Town, Haverstock, Gospel Oak and Kilburn, though paradoxically there is a mixture of more affluent housing in most of these wards. Our largest donations during Primary Schools Harvest Festivals came from Netley School in the Regents Park Estate, which has one of the greatest indices of deprivation in the whole of the UK.

According to most recent ONS data (May 2016), almost a third (32.5%) of the UK population experienced poverty at least once between 2011 and 2014. Additionally, in 2014, 6.5% of the UK population were in persistent poverty, equivalent to approximately 3.9 million people. That so many people do not have enough money to feed their families is primarily due to the international recession, national austerity measures and the introduction of universal credit in April 2013. With universal credit all benefits including housing come to one person in a household, and delays in those benefits payments therefore have a huge impact. There is a real risk of families running out of food before the end of the month, children arriving at school hungry, and older people having to choose between heating and food during winter months.

The Trussell Trust, a registered charity, is a Christian organisation that operates as a national umbrella body to support foodbanks nationally with: organisational and volunteer training; an operating manual, PR and branding materials; an online forum; annual quality assessments; conferences; and access to the foodbank network’s shared ideas and experiences. All food is donated by the public and logged and sorted by volunteers. Frontline care professionals such as social workers, the police, GPs and teachers issue food vouchers to people in crisis. At distribution sessions like ours, people exchange these for three days’ worth of nutritionally balanced, non-perishable food. People also receive a friendly cup of tea and signposting to agencies that can help resolve their situation.