Lock down Blogs Lewisham food bank
Lewisham Foodbank is based just behind Forest Hill fire station at The Hope Centre, which up until lockdown had so many great things happening. A weekly drop in for older people as well as lovely meals being given away by one of the local church groups. A lot has been put on hold for now but I'm sure they will be back and are missed by so many.
Working flat out every day Lewisham Foodbank volunteers deserve recognition for the work they are doing. The Senior Project Manager of Foodbank is Carol Bostridge or ‘Bish' as I like to call her (she really is a Bishop). She has been there from the start working with the Trussell Trust and they now have 250 volunteers on the books.
Each day volunteer shoppers and drivers go out and buy food with the huge amount of money raised already by our Mayor Damien Egan. As his designated charity £128,000 so far in just a few short weeks was donated by hundreds of generous donors. Shopping done and it's back to the Hope Centre to sort through the many donations they receive from the collection points all around the borough, before packing it into bags to be delivered to around 50 households every day. Social distancing has meant that only around ten people can be in the building at any given time. But there are many more working behind the scenes to get everything done. The delivery drivers, the crucial logistics team and those on the phones brings that total to around 35 people involved each day.
I was lucky enough to meet some of them at Christmas when I volunteered at Tesco in Lewisham where we collected so much, matched by Tesco themselves. We were all lucky enough to meet the big boss from the Trussell Trust as well. so I must thank everyone who has donated and Tesco as well.
Since lockdown began the Foodbank has seen a sharp increase in people asking for help. Without them so many would go hungry. It's a never-ending struggle to keep up, but the fantastic group of volunteers are there everyday without fail.
The admin for their social media platforms, Caro Swan, lives just down the road from me, and has become one of the many collection points for Lewisham Foodbank, along with Jays Budgens in Crofton Park and so many more around the borough of Lewisham. There's always people dropping stuff off or adding a few tins to their shopping to donate.
Yesterday Caro put up a tweet which has gone viral. We have been having a friendly competition for followers and last night the Foodbank romped ahead which I'm so happy about. It's great to see so many people who feel the same about the fantastic work they do.
It was all about adding a few treats to the many bags of food that go out. A bag of crisps and a bar of chocolate. A packet of chocolate Digestives. So many positive comments and a few negative saying it's not right, it's not healthy. well believe me, they are very welcome treats in these trying times.
It's sad we have foodbanks at all in this country but after ten years of austerity hitting those on low income the hardest. There are now over 2000 in England alone. If you want to help, you can. Sign up and volunteer, add a tin to your shopping or donate some cash. Without everyone's help these much needed charities will slowly disappear and we need them now more than ever.
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