Please Support Our Foodbank this Summer

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As holidays without school meals causes spike in demand

Summer holidays may be the time to relax for many, but for those struggling to feed their families, the lack of free school meals simply piles on the pressure.

Fortunately H&F Foodbank, backed by Hammersmith & Fulham Council, is here to help by providing packages of food and other essentials. Now the charity needs your help to cope with this summer spike in demand. You can help by donating food or money which the charity will spend on food or projects.

“This is one of the key times when H&F Foodbank most needs our help,” said Cllr Sue Fennimore, H&F Cabinet Member for Social Inclusion.

“Donating is simple and can mean buying just a few extra items with your shopping – something small can still make a big difference.”

The items the charity is most of need of at the moment are:

Long life juice
Tinned fruit and veg
Instant mash
Powdered milk
Sponge pudding that doesn’t need to be put in the fridge
Jars of pasta sauce.
There are collection points across the borough, including Hammersmith Town Hall, libraries, supermarkets and Fulham Broadway Shopping Centre.

“Many families rely on a daily free school meal and can really struggle without them during the long summer break,” said Daphine Aikens, CEO of H&F Foodbank.

“Parents sacrifice their own food for their children, and sometimes even that is not enough.”

The charity is running a range of projects during the summer. They include holiday clubs for 3 to 11-year-olds twice a week where lunch and snacks are provided. Email info@hammersmithfulham.foodbank.org to find out if spaces are available.

There is also an Eat Well, Spend Less course which teaches people healthy recipes they can cook on a budget over 6 weeks. They are currently fully booked but the charity is looking for venues to host the next courses from January. If you have a space free for a few hours twice a week, H&F Foodbank will be delighted to hear from you.

The charity runs coffee mornings twice a week where people can come for a chat or use the computers, help for jobseekers to brush up on their CV writing and other skills and has Citizen Advice Bureau staff on hand to help people out of debt and other situations which make it difficult for them to feed their families.

To receive a food package from H&F Foodbank you will need a voucher which you can pick up from a range of different organisations, including social workers, GPs, the Citizens Advice Bureau and Children’s centres.

The charity has three centres, each in a different part of borough

White City Distribution Centre, The Hub @ 75 is at 75 Bloemfontein Road, White City W12 7DA. It is open every week on Mondays, 12.30pm - 3pm; Wednesdays, 10am - 12pm and Saturdays, 10am - 12.pm.

H&F Foodbank also operates 'cafe-style', offering hot and cold drinks and home-made cakes, from two other sites in the borough:

• Fulham Distribution Centre, Christ Church Fulham, 67 Studdridge Street, Fulham, SW6 3TD. It is open every week on Tuesday from 10.30am to 1pm and Friday from 2pm to 4.30pm.
• Shepherd's Bush Distribution Centre, St Simons, Rockley Road, Shepherds Bush, W14 0DA. It is open every week on Thursday from 1pm to 3pm.

For general enquiries about Hammersmith & Fulham Foodbank, email info@hffb.org, or visit the website. Alternatively you can follow it on Twitter and keep up-to-date via Facebook .

August 5, 2016