Norwich Foodbank: Update 226, 20 June 2025
Good morning everyone, looks like it’s another hot one so please stay hydrated! I know I’m a bit slower in this heat so hope this update in particular is a welcome reason to sit and have a moment
Lobby Day 2025
On Wednesday 18th June, Jon and Hannah, with Ruth from NCAN (Norfolk Community Advice Network) had the privilege of joining almost 700 other campaigners in parliament to lobby for an Essentials Guarantee. With 9.3 million people facing hunger and hardship across the UK due to the basic level of Universal Credit being at its lowest level as a share of average earnings, our collective services are being pushed to their limits. Alongside this are impending cuts in support for disabled people in the UK. Wednesday marked a key milestone in our campaign journey to change the welfare system so that it is fit for purpose. The campaign has seen many stories of hardship and hope being shared and a letter signed by several of our key Partners was handed over to MPs. We had the opportunity to speak with Alice Macdonald, Ben Goldsborough and Adrian Ramsay in Westminster Hall where we shared local stories and data of the current hardship many people are facing when accessing the foodbank. During the day, we heard extremely moving accounts from those with lived experience, together with being inspired by one of Trussell’s supporters, comedian Nish Kumar. We attended workshops on mapping out key people in our community who have a passion and the power to influence change and this is going to be a key aspect moving forward as we are setting up our own ‘Norwich Voices’ panel. If you have a heart for joining our campaigns panel or have a story to share about hardship and hope, please let us know: [email protected] or 07789 027611
When we handed over our letters we asked that the MPs would pledge to commit to the following asks:
- Bring in the full boost to Universal Credit from April 2026 instead of 2029 as is currently planned;
- Ensure the UK government seeks independent advice on setting the basic rate of Universal credit against the actual cost of essentials;
- Bring in a protected minimum floor on Universal Credit to limit all deductions taking someone’s income below the amount needed to live on.
It was great to be part of such a big event and join with one voice to lobby our MPs. We appreciate that Universal Credit is just one element of our data and sometimes only one challenge a lot of people face. Our lived experience panel will help inform us of issues, challenges and solutions that we can take forward on a local level to make a difference and have a positive impact on the next person who may need us and eventually, the impact will be that someone WON’T need us because of action we’ve taken You can read a bit more about lobby day on Trussell’s website here: Lobby Day
Chris is a Champion!
Those of you who know Chris, our British Red Cross worker, may know he is power-lifter / bench-presser and has competed and won medals in various events before. He qualified for the World Powerlifting Championships (held in Rome in June 2025) and the competition took place last weekend. Chris texted on Saturday evening saying ‘I only went and blooming won it!’, taking the GOLD MEDAL in his category, bench-pressing 135kg which is the equivalent (I’m reliably informed!) of an adult male lion or 5.5 bags of cement! HUGE congrats to Chris for this amazing effort and HUGE thanks to all who have supported his sponsorship so far – over £760 raised, which will be used for an emergency fund for urgent requests through our Partners, when Acts 435 or other avenues aren’t available.
Partners Meeting
We have a regular Partners meeting of our on-site distribution centre partners (British Red Cross, Citizens Advice, Norfolk Community Law Service, Norfolk County Council, Shelter, Your Own Place) and it’s been really encouraging to see this meeting grow with different faces / services / voices included and all of us remaining informed and updated on what support is available. Our last meeting was over-subscribed (according to fire regulations!) so we had to limit attendance which was a wonderful problem to have! We were joined by MIND who have been able to provide a Talking Therapies worker to different centres over the last few months and we are delighted their support is continuing and we also Adult Social Services who had collected a food parcel for a client and were impressed by our joined-up model of ensuring the client and their concerns are at the centre and the services and support fit round them.
Treasury Bake Sale
I mentioned previously that we are ‘charity of the year’ for the local branch of the Treasury and they held a fundraising bake sale in the office recently. They raised almost £400 which is incredible! I attach a photo of their lovely offerings
Asda Hall Road
Our next supermarket collection will be a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at Asda Hall Road in July. If you are able to help, please sign up here – we do have a few shifts left to fill if you are able please.
Toiletries / Stock
We are buying in more than we have ever done before and we are incredibly grateful to be in the financial position to be able to do this. However this does mean decisions about ‘what’ to buy are being made all the time and I am sharing that currently, toiletries are our lowest priority due to needing to provide a nutritionally balanced parcel of food and this being the absolute expectation of our service. We have been buying meat, fruit, vegetables, milk and fruit juice regularly and so you will have noticed that ‘extras’ and toiletries are very low in stock or, in some cases, completely out! Donations have gone up a little and so these items have been trickling through but at the moment, we are focussing on having the essential box contents available; centres and drivers, please do continue to request other items, but if they are not available, rest assured that the boxes remain at a high standard and will continue to do so. As and when we buy in other items, we will do so and you will be the first to know / see… We have launched our Harvest appeal with schools to encourage collections in the Autumn and have 3 big events during July and August (including Asda, above!) to boost stock levels and spread the word about continuing to donate / start donating if it’s a new audience. Thank you for your patience – what a difference from just a few years ago eh?!
Summer Reading Challenge
I’m attaching a poster asking for young volunteers aged 13-25 years old (sadly that counts some of us out!) to help in the upcoming summer reading challenge, in partnership with libraries. If you know of young people who would be interested in knowing more, please do share on the poster.
FEEDBACK
We had a lovely piece of feedback after a phone call with Rachel. When asked ‘how are you’, this gentleman cried and said ‘no-one ever asks me that’. I know that we can often ask and reply with ‘fine thanks how are you’ without really meaning it, but how incredibly powerful to know the difference this small question can make to someone. This was then followed up by an email ‘Thank you so much you sound such a kind and caring lady on the phone thank you’
Happy Friday all and please don’t melt or combust over the weekend…
Hannah