This Easter Monday we wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who has been involved in keeping the Waterloo Foodbank running over the last few weeks.
It has been a challenging time for all of us at the foodbank, but we are so thankful that with a lot of support, we are still able to help those in crisis and unable to afford food at this time. As ever, we don’t think anyone should have to use a foodbank, and everyone deserves to be able to afford the basics, such as food. However, whilst the need is there, we will continue to provide those who need it with emergency food and support.
With the help of a huge number of people, we have been able to adapt our model of delivering foodbank, to ensure we can keep everyone as safe as possible. This has meant joining up with a number of other foodbanks to provide a delivery model, taking people’s food packages direct to their doors.
So, we wanted to say thank you to some people who have been key to making all of this happen.
To all our volunteers old and new
We have an amazing team of volunteers, who normally help sort food, pack parcels and provide conversation to people in our foodbank centres. Many of them can’t volunteer at the moment, but we are so thankful for their continued encouragement from afar. We’re also thankful for the support of the South Bank Churches, we run the Waterloo Foodbank in partnership with them, and look forward to reopening our centres in churches as soon as we can.
There have also been many people who have stepped up and stepped in to help us. From delivery drivers, parcel packers and email answer-ers, we couldn’t keep going without you!
To everyone who has donated food or money
We have been blown away by the response from our community in the face of this crisis. We launched a Crowdfunder page that raised £22,000 in just three weeks, local mutual aid groups have responded to requests for food we are running short of in a matter of minutes, and people have even parted with precious toilet roll and UHT milk. There are additional costs associated with our new model, and we have run low on some food items. So thank you, if you have supported us in this way.
To our brilliant referral agencies
We work with around 120 frontline professionals who can refer to our foodbank. GPS, schools, social workers, cancer units, advice charities and more are continuing to provide essential support in our communities, in new and inventive ways. They ensure that the people who need our help can access it and they are doing a fantastic job.
To the Trussell Trust team and all the other foodbanks in our network
We are proud to be part of the Trussell Trust network and we are really grateful for their hard work and fast response. They have secured us brilliant delivery drivers from British Gas, food from Morrisons and Tesco, amended policies so we can work safely, and constant encouragement. A special shout out to Kate, our brilliant area manager! We are also thankful to be working closely with other foodbanks in our network, helping to ease the load and ensure an effective, joined up approach to our delivery model.
To our team at Oasis Waterloo
The charity that runs our Foodbank is Oasis Waterloo and we do lots of other work in our local community, including a brand new online programme for families. Find out what we are up to here.
Going forward if you would like to support us, find out how by clicking here. Or you can see updates from us on Twitter or Facebook