January 2021 Newsletter

Prior to Christmas, our team of volunteers worked tirelessly and sometimes late into the evenings to ensure all our clients received their food parcels in time for Christmas day. This was a tremendous undertaking as we packed, loaded and delivered over 1,000 parcels across a three day period, four times the average of a standard day’s workload. And it wasn’t just food that was included with each parcel also containing wonderfully wrapped Christmas presents and of course our Christmas stars! We want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us by donating food, cash, presents and more. We also want to say a huge thank you to our brilliant volunteers without whom none of this would have been possible.

With the latest lockdown measures now in full force, more people will be facing severe hardship and will need the help of our food bank. We will continue to operate our delivery service for emergency food parcels to those in need. If you can support us with donations here’s a list of items we urgently need.

Once again, Local Greens have provided us with vital supplies to help us in one of our busiest periods. We received a huge donation of home grown fresh items just before Christmas and weekly donations throughout December. A special mention to Alex for raising awareness among the Local Greens community.

A special message to all our star makers: Thank you so much for all the work and commitment you put into making your beautiful stars for us, which made all our Christmas parcels look so festive and cheerful. The photo above shows part of a typical parcel with its star to give you a flavour of what our guests received. Do check our Instagram account @norwoodandbrixtonfoodbank for more Christmas photos to get a sense of the scale and see how everyone’s contribution brought a little hope to those in crisis.

The circumstances in which our clients need to use our Foodbank have never been more varied, especially because of the heightened job insecurity caused by the Covid pandemic. Last week, one of our volunteers spoke to a client who had been a very successful writer in years gone by, but had fallen on difficult times and was now reliant on benefits to see her through this tricky period. She was embarrassed about having to use our Foodbank, but not too proud to accept our help and despite her elegant vocabulary, admitted it was hard to put into words how her Christmas food parcel had come at just the right time and had exceeded all her expectations. Her one additional request was for a second-hand laptop, anything that worked, so she could continue her writing. If you think you can help, please email [email protected].

Sydenham High School is just one of the schools that has been supporting us recently. It was amazing to receive a deluge of fresh items last week (see picture), especially as our regular supplier has been shut due to Covid. Here is what the school said on Twitter:

‘We are definitely missing having our pupils on site but it means we can share the food they would have been eating with @foodbankNorwood! #community #fearnothing #foodbank’

Looking for a new job at the start of this year? Our partner Foodbank Oasis Hub Waterloo are recruiting for an Advice Centre Coordinator. For more details and how to apply click here.

A huge thank you to Annelies Meister from chaptertwobooks for donating 1,500 wall calendars to go in our Christmas parcels. They made lovely gifts and the timing was perfect, received just a few days before the new year.

‘Tim’s Trussell Trust Tour’ is a fantastic fundraising idea from  Tim Staples, one of our volunteers. Tim is planning to visit as many London landmarks as possible, raising money for The Trussell Trust, the founder charity of our food bank network. If you would like to sponsor Tim, or make a welcome landmark suggestion, you can do so here. Thanks for finding such a creative way to support us Tim, we hope you inspire others to start the new year in a similar fashion.

You may remember our post about Palace Hampers in the December issue of our newsletter. The figures are in… 65 hamper boxes sold, £346.00 raised for our Foodbank and 50 free hampers distributed to local families in need in conjunction with Lambeth Council! What a great idea, thanks for supporting us this Christmas.

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

Please check our website for the latest information on how and where to donate food

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.