Maiden Lane's Food Bank - Reducing Food Insecurity in Camden
The Pitch
Problem statement
Our Foodbank is in more demand than ever, with multiple groups in our local community suffering from food insecurity. • People are having to make very hard choices between food or fuel. • A lot of parents (and children) are eating cereal as main meals. • Many people feed their children and not eating themselves. • Children are not eating nutritious meals. • Benefits have changed/are being changed so they cannot afford to eat. • Domestic violence survivors are in need. • Single parents have low/no income. • More people are on their own, suffering from loneliness, isolation and food insecurity. • More people from BAME communities using the foodbank.
Solution
Our foodbank operates Tuesday-Friday 3.5 hours per day, 14 hours per week. We are partners with and receive our food bank supplies from Sainsburys Camden, Morrisons Camden and Felix Project But we still need to purchase more fresh food, essential items (including nappies) as well as more culturally appropriate food which are not donated. We need £500 per month to top-up the donations we receive, therefore £3,000 would fund these additional items for 6 months.
Why are we best placed to deliver?
We are embedded in our community and have been providing a successful food bank service for 10 years and have built trust and rapport with the families we work with. Collaboration is important to us. We receive referrals from London Borough of Camden, Social Services, local community groups, family support workers, schools, and children’s centres. As part of our food bank service, we also provide healthy family cooking sessions, a BAME women's healthy breakfast club, advice and guidance, referrals to London Borough of Camden support services, Employability/Financial Capability support, Holiday Activity Fund - including free breakfast/lunch for children on free school meals.
Focus Areas
Delivery plan
Budget breakdown
| Purchasing supplementary fresh food and personal hygiene items @ £500 per month | £3,000 |
Beneficiaries
2,400 people
Who will benefit
Expected impact
This project will contribute to improving access to nutritious food and essential personal hygiene items for the most at need groups. We will support 2,400 individuals over 12 months with up to 3,550 people benefiting each month. The difference we will make is: - Reducing food insecurity - Reducing the stigma that surrounds using Food banks. - Increasing access to emergency food relief with wraparound support services - Increasing the resilience of our communities in need. We will evidence our work by collating the number of residents accessing the foodbank, the number of families we support and the number of meals this equates to over a 12-month period. “The foodbank has been excellent. It’s a warm and friendly environment to step into. I cannot measure how much the Food Bank has helped me during these tough times.” MLCC foodbank beneficiary.
Track record
Our track record in providing a compassionate and culturally sensitive Food Bank is well established. We promote our food bank through targeted outreach to communities where it is stigmatised to ask for support with food for example Bangladeshi and Somali communities. We deliver food/essential items (socially distanced) to people's doorsteps thus avoiding crowds in the winter season for the most vulnerable when Covid is most prevalent.