Norwich Foodbank Update: 233, 26 September 2025
Good morning everyone!
We receive a weekly email from Trussell with news and info and upcoming events and I share a bit from last week’s here:
‘Foodbanks are a place of collaboration, unity and hope. Sadly, we know the same sense of unity isn’t being reflected across the UK – the rising tensions we’re seeing in communities are deeply unsettling. We are thankful that foodbanks are places where anyone facing financial hardship and hunger can get help and will experience a safe, non-judgemental welcome from you and your teams. Whilst it’s true that places which are united are more resilient to hate, we don’t underestimate the emotional toll this may be taking on you. Sitting at the heart of your communities is what gives you the power to build bridges, but we know that it can also invite many challenges too. Amidst all of these challenges, you continue to provide a warm welcome and a haven for people who need your support. When people have hope for themselves, they are more able to challenge division – with every person you support, and every kind conversation you have, you are consistently building the fabric of a more connected, more optimistic community.’
Thank you from ALL of us – staff, Trustees and fellow volunteers as I echo this from Trussell I have been in touch with a couple of teams specifically about the above but please do reach out to Jon or myself if we can help in any way.
Our Role in the ‘Food Aid’ Market…
Following on from that, we know there is confusion for clients and indeed within agencies (and between ourselves sometimes!) about what a foodbank / social supermarket / pantry / fridge ‘does’ and how they operate. Rachel has created this helpful image (see attached) to give a brief explanation of the different roles and services for each ‘food aid model’. Some people may use all of them at the same time, some may move between different services depending on need / circumstance and some may only ever use one service. I hope you find this useful and if you want us to print it so you can share it in centres, please do say. We are hoping to work more closely with the Wymondham social supermarket (at Hope Church) making and receiving referrals between us but its slow going as a whole, as there are so many different ways of working and different areas that’s it’s not a simple ‘this is the process’ for all centres to follow to link up with a local social supermarket.
Langley Support
After an assembly led by Jon at Langley School and a generous donation last year, Jon held a warehouse session with the school’s ‘Food Ambassadors’ recently. They were taken through all of the different warehouse roles and helped pick some single boxes. They had some great questions and even referred to the film (award nominated don’t forget!) of the milk donation – they asked if we could track where their box ended up And then Brigit (who appears in the film) came in so it was perfect timing! It’s always great to encourage the next generation of campaigners and these pupils will now go back into school to induct another group of ambassadors.
Sainsburys Longwater FINAL CALL
We are trialling a slightly longer day, to see if after-work-shoppers might be a good audience to engage. If you are able to help on any of the days – Thursday 9th, Friday 10th is particularly short or Saturday 11th October- please sign up here Thank you to everyone who already has signed up! We’ll be in touch to confirm times, teams and instructions.
Tesco Extra (Sprwoston)
We have had dates confirmed for in-person collections in Tesco Sprowston (aka Tesco Blue Boar) at the end of November. If you are able to help out on Thursday 27th, Friday 28th, Saturday 29th November please do sign up here
Bankuet
Bankuet mark their 6th anniversary this year and have shared some stats which are pretty astonishing:
295 foodbanks supported / signed up (we joined in 2020)
£5.2+ million donated
4,300+ deliveries made to foodbanks made (we’ve had 80+ deliveries)
For those who don’t know, Bankuet is an online bulk buyer and we have donors who give directly into our Bankuet account; we then log in and select the items / quantities we want to purchase and it is delivered a week or so later. Some of the prices are very good and others we can get cheaper from different suppliers (yes of course we have a spreadsheet!) but the turnaround is quick and it’s a great way for donors who want to give ‘food’ but aren’t able to shop or don’t know what foods to buy, to get us exactly what we need.
‘Foodbank Fortnight’
Coined by Bank The Food (the free app which foodbanks and other food aid providers use) to coincide with Harvest and encourage support for foodbanks, this campaign starts on 6th October . We have over 800 users who have downloaded Bank The Food app and chosen Norwich Foodbank for updates, and over 14,700 items have been recorded as donated to us – we expect this is much below the actual total, as lots of people use it to choose what to donate, but don’t necessarily record their donations in the app. We have received positive feedback from donors who can keep up to date easily with what we do – and importantly don’t! – need and also if you have updated the settings, it will ping when you enter a supermarket to remind you to consider donating. We get customers say ‘I saw the donation bin as I left!’ so this has had a positive impact on reminding people! A great app to have (and share if you have it). More info on how this campaign goes, will follow…
Network Norfolk – already shared but sharing again!
We are finalists in the Network Norfolk Communication awards in TWO categories!
Our website (thank you Rachel and Peter) and our foodbank donation journey film made by Tile Media (thank you SO MANY of you for being in it / helping / supporting) are both in the final for the awards so we now need votes to actually win VOTE HERE
Those of you were have been with us a while, may remember we won an award in their 2015 awards for our social media accounts (you can read more here Network Norfolk
There are a few other categories too so grab a cuppa and have a look at the different awards and finalists and get voting.
Lived Experience Panel Update
This week we held our third workshop, listening to people with lived experience of using foodbanks / social supermarkets, led by Jon and Jess (Your Own Place) and with Katherine. The session was much much smaller in numbers than the last session but it generated lots of discussion. Some of the key headlines from the session were that food provision is vital because many people need the help that goes alongside food: agencies give support and there is often free fruit and vegetables at social supermarkets. Many reasons were given as to why access to emergency food is needed, including the pressures of working / reduction in hours, the rising costs (of everything) and not having knowledge of how to access ‘the system’ of benefits / budgeting / advice. It was mentioned that good things in place across Norwich included access to free or cheap food that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford and the support on offer at foodbank distribution centres. Those at the meeting felt that information about key life skills / support groups could be made clearer before crisis hits. They also mentioned that they would benefit from additional help when navigating life changes such as applying for a job / interviews / having children and some said that support for people in work isn’t out there (or at least isn’t clear) and that mapping such support would be useful.
Our next step with this panel is to formulate a smaller working group and design a project to respond to one or more of the issues raised. We are also working closely with the Norfolk Anti Poverty Alliance so that we have continuity, shared rescoures and don’t duplicate work.
Good News
Chris our British Red Cross worker had a busy week recently: ‘I made two grown men and one woman cry in cafes and the foodbank [happy tears I assume although he doesn’t specify…!], and started work with 4 brand new clients yesterday….all of which I was able to make a material difference to immediately (it usually take me more time than that!) – one guy even applied for and received support from the Norfolk Crisis Fund during the meeting we had!’ Offering face to face support across our centres makes such a big difference to getting the right help to people at the right time. Thank you to our Partners and to all our centres for facilitating and welcoming these partnerships.
Faith Recognised
I’ve heard at two different events the inclusion of ‘Faith’ in the list of groups engaged with – you may have come across the acronym VCSE (Voluntary, Community, Social Enterprise) which tries to encapsulate ‘all’ possible voluntary and community groups that could and should work alongside statutory agencies (councils, health, etc). At two different meetings this week however VCSFE was used – Voluntary, Community, Faith, Social Enterprise. To explicitly include faith organisations – and not just organised religious groups but groups with a faith-based ethos who may or may not fit into the VCSE categories. It is so important to include the variety of groups working or just in a community to ensure that any work or project takes into account different people, opinions and experiences so this was realyl encouraging!
Answer to Prayer!
And to build on the faith aspect, at Wymondham recently, one of the team said ‘it would be amazing if we had bags’ as there were no bags at all and it was just a throw away line, said out loud. It was also an unusually busy morning and they had run out of single boxes. 5 mins later a friend of the foodbank unexpectedly turns up with a box of strong paper bags and a large food donation which enabled them to make up a single parcel. Amazing!
I hope you have a great Friday with all you have going on.
Hannah