September 2020 Newsletter

We are on a recruitment drive as many of the incredible volunteers that first joined us during lockdown are returning to work. If you are available Monday to Friday in the daytime we’d love to hear from you. Volunteer roles include preparing parcels for clients, re-stocking shelves and delivering food (vehicle required). Please email your interest to [email protected]  

Last month across Lambeth, we gave out 35 tonnes of food to people in crisis but only had 27 tonnes donated. This means we are running low on a number of items. Can you help? Our online shopping list is up-to-date and tells you all the ways you can donate. We would especially love it if you could order an online food delivery from a supermarket direct to our door. Why not club together with some friends and donate that way? The address of the South London Warehouse is St Margaret’s Church, Barcombe Avenue, Streatham Hill, SW2 3BH. We are open for donations on Mon – Fri between 9.30am – 2.30pm.

Harvest time is a key event in our calendar where we rely on generous donations from the community to help replenish our shelves before winter. If you know a school, church or community organisation that may want to hold a harvest collection for us this year, perhaps you could send them this survey to fill out and return to us. It would really help us plan for a busy winter ahead.

Following the Norwood and Brixton Foodbank on social media is a great way to stay in touch with all that’s happening in the Foodbank world. We have two Twitter accounts @foodbankNorwood and @BrixtonFoodbank, you can find us on Facebook at norwoodbrixtonfoodbank and on our new Instagram account at norwoodandbrixtonfoodbank.

Harvest time is a key event in our calendar where we rely on generous donations from the community to help replenish our shelves before winter. If you know a school, church or community organisation that may want to hold a harvest collection for us this year, perhaps you could send them this survey to fill out and return to us. It would really help us plan for a busy winter ahead.

Following the Norwood and Brixton Foodbank on social media is a great way to stay in touch with all that’s happening in the Foodbank world. We have two Twitter accounts @foodbankNorwood and @BrixtonFoodbank, you can find us on Facebook at norwoodbrixtonfoodbank and on our new Instagram account at norwoodandbrixtonfoodbank.

We have always tried to offer a comprehensive service to our clients involving substantially more than just distributing food. We have maintained aspects of this service since switching to our delivery model but there is no substitute for meeting clients in person. This is why we are delighted to inform you that we intend to open our doors to a small number of clients for pre-arranged appointments at our Streatham hub later in the month. These appointments will allow our volunteers to help clients fill in complicated forms and also offer sign-posting and pastoral support. To make a face to face appointment with our advice team, please email [email protected].

It’s time to say goodbye to Johanna who is leaving her role as a Saturday team leader and coordinator of the Brixton Twitter account in order to move to Edinburgh with her husband. Johanna began volunteering at our Brixton branch soon after we opened our doors and it wasn’t long before she started leading her own regular session. Johanna has brought fun and joy to the team, with the obligatory team selfie (above) making an appearance on Twitter each week. Always giving hope and showing compassion to our Foodbank guests, Johanna is very much loved by our regular visitors. Her commitment and passion to help those in need was evident in everything she did and we wish her well in her new chapter north of the boarder. Thank you for everything Johanna!

On Sunday, 16th August, Peter Maytom completed his 46 mile sponsored bike ride (he actually did 56 miles) and he did it in the impressive time of just over 3 hours. His aim was to raise £10 for each mile but thanks to generous sponsors he smashed his target and has now raised £1,979 with gift aid included. A fantastic effort Peter! His sponsorship page is still open for those who want to help him reach the £2,000 milestone! .

Meet Alison Campbell who has been volunteering weekly at our Brixton distribution point for over five years and rarely misses a session. “At the beginning of lockdown, it was stunning to witness the surge of goodwill and neighbourliness towards the needy and vulnerable in the community. The race was on to meet the exponential needs of the thousands upon thousands of vulnerable families, singles and elderly impacted by the crisis. Since then I’ve been volunteering at the Foodbank warehouse in Streatham. It occupies the whole space of a huge Victorian church and is managed by an amazing staff team. There are rows and rows of shelves laden with donated food along which packers walk and pick food fulfilling clients’ orders. There’s great camaraderie amongst us all and the music keeps us upbeat as orders are completed and prepared for delivery. I’m staggered by the magnitude of the work taken on by warehouse staff. In a matter of days, the vast wooden church furniture was lifted out of the building to make way for the stacked and zoned shelves to accommodate the most efficient system to move literally tonnes of food weekly whilst maintaining compliance regulations with social distancing. It was a very sad and emotional day when the Brixton distribution point was closed for lockdown but it was a joy to see many of our team in the warehouse. I really miss other team members who have had to shield and isolate. I’m really looking forward to the day when Brixton reopens and once more we can connect with our wonderful friends and lovely clients”.

Snow Patrol are ‘Reaching Out To You’ to purchase their latest release and to help support Foodbanks across the country. Their new song ‘Reaching Out To You’ is taken from their latest EP ‘The Fireside Sessions’. All proceeds will go directly to the Trussell Trust, which is the umbrella charity of the Foodbank network.

A huge thank you to Invisible Blue for providing us with screens as we look to resume contact with our Foodbank clients. Our new screens will provide protection and peace of mind for our guests and our volunteers who will be pleased to have a break from wearing face masks.

These amazing marrows (or very large courgettes!) have been donated by Kew Gardens Community Garden, no less! Jane Rogers, manager of the garden, is an Upper Norwood resident and happened to see our Facebook post on Crystal Palace Local, calling out for donations of home-grown produce. Please do keep the donations of fresh produce coming as it’s great to be able to add fresh items to our parcels. For more stories like this follow norwoodandbrixtonfoodbank on Instagram.

A big thank you to Jason Cartwright and @givefood_org_uk for finding yet another creative way to assist our Foodbank. In August he delivered another 60 summer activity packs to our Warehouse filled with age-appropriate books, fully stocked pencil cases, stickers and toys. This was the second batch of activity packs providing a wonderful addition for our families during the summer holidays.

Please note that due to Covid-19, our distribution points are currently closed! Drop-boxes are still operating in various local shops across Lambeth. 

We have three distribution points across the Borough of Lambeth with different opening times for each. Click on the image above for more information regarding our food distribution points.In addition to the three distribution centres, we have a number of drop-boxes situated in local shops and community hubs across Lambeth.

We have a number of new initiatives to suit your donating preferences, including our text to donate service where simply by texting ‘dinner 5’  or ‘dinner 10’ to 70085 enables you to donate the corresponding amount through your phone. Please click on the image above and download our ‘ways to donate’ info sheet to see all options available to you.