Norwich foodbank: Update 218, 28 February 2025
It’s been another busy week with Wednesday in particular a VERY busy day – an office staff catch up online, a Norfolk and Suffolk foodbank cluster meeting, the Norfolk Anti-Poverty Alliance launch event (write up below and attached) and a group of Scouts in the warehouse during the evening 
Scouts in the Warehouse
One of the most entertaining groups I’ve had in the warehouse (other than regular volunteer shifts of course!) with some great quotes to share with you all today 
When asked to write ‘single’ on a box one of the boys (aged 14) said with a wry smile, ‘single – what I am’ and another told his friend off who then said ‘I’m not doing anything!’ and the reply came ‘I know, and you should be helping’ which I will definitely be using myself in the future…! Another was saying how many notifications he had waiting on his phone and his friend said ‘this is not the time or place for TikTok’ which again, I thought was excellent as ‘group policing’! All in very good spirits and very helpful and a special thank you to Malcolm for picking single parcels for us to pack (and a thank you to the Thursday team for checking over the Scouts work!).
When asked to write ‘single’ on a box one of the boys (aged 14) said with a wry smile, ‘single – what I am’ and another told his friend off who then said ‘I’m not doing anything!’ and the reply came ‘I know, and you should be helping’ which I will definitely be using myself in the future…! Another was saying how many notifications he had waiting on his phone and his friend said ‘this is not the time or place for TikTok’ which again, I thought was excellent as ‘group policing’! All in very good spirits and very helpful and a special thank you to Malcolm for picking single parcels for us to pack (and a thank you to the Thursday team for checking over the Scouts work!).Star Donors
Dussindale Primary collected over 300 cereal boxes as part of a breakfast club drive encouraging donations and this arrived last week. We love a themed collection as it so often generates a good deal of support. Next time, we’ll ask for UHT milk! We also had a bumper delivery (two trips!) of toiletries from a company who had donated and volunteered in the warehouse in 2024. Boxes of pre-packed mixed toiletries and dental products filled our crates and shelves and were so plentiful that our ‘most needed list’ could be changed immediately!
BookBanks Need More Volunteers
Bookbanks is a standalone charity, partnering with us at the Bowthorpe distribution centre, running a pop-up stall during their opening hours. The stall is stocked with a wide selection of donated books, with many arriving new from publishers and all are free for foodbank guests to browse, take home and keep. Stalls are run by volunteers who love books, broadening access to them and talking about them and they are currently recruiting a couple of new volunteers; they would need to be able to commit to giving 2 hours per month on a Friday morning for at least 6 months. The charity provides an evening’s training to all volunteers, plus ongoing support. More details about the charity can be found here, and anyone interested in volunteering should fill out this form, or email [email protected] for more details. Thank you!
Save the Dates! 
An online form will come out for each event nearer the time, but for now we are sharing some dates / events for collections and stalls coming up:
Carrow Road (Sheffield Wednesday match) 11th March evening see sign up below!
Tesco Blue Boar 10th and 11th April
Waitrose Eaton 29th and 30th May
Asda Hall Road 7th, 8th and 9th July
Yoga festival 2nd August (one day, stall for information / campaigns and cash / food collection)
NORJAM 9th August (one day, stall for information / campaigns and cash / food collection)
Morrisons Riverside and Sainsburys Longwater tbc
Carrow Road Collection
Our first collection is coming up in a couple of weeks: we’ll be collecting at Carrow Road ahead of the Sheffield Wednesday match on Tuesday 11th March from 6pm; if you are able to help please sign up here
Norfolk Anti-Poverty Alliance Launch
We were pleased to attend the launch event on Wednesday evening; please see attached our write up.
TESTIMONY:
I received this from one of our advice partners, praising a different partner on their work with a client which is so lovely to read / see:
‘Just a quick message to let you know some genuinely AMAZING work that Emily has done….because I’m sure she won’t tell you herself! Various agencies have been trying for a couple of years to help an elderly gentleman find permanent accommodation (along with other bits and pieces). For the last few months, he was sleeping in his car at night. For various reasons, we all met brick walls and were unable to help him with this. Emily kept pushing and pushing though, and today, the gentleman came in to tell us that he is now in a council flat of his own… all thanks to Emily’s efforts! I have just dropped off a bunch of furniture and kitchen items; I have checked, and he now has everything he needs. He is extremely grateful to everyone who has helped him. He showed me around his new flat, and he has managed to buy some 2nd hand curtains as well as going on Facebook marketplace to get some other bits and bobs. It is great that he is doing this off his own back. He is a VERY happy man now 
‘
‘I will never get tired of sharing team work and how good it is for the person we are collectively helping, especially with life-changing results like this. Keep sharing stories please!
Happy Friday and weekend when it comes everyone.
Hannah
