It has been an exceptionally busy few weeks at Bradford Metropolitan Food Bank but we wanted to let you know some amazing accomplishments thanks to our wonderful volunteers and supporters.
We gave out 621 food bags to registered organisations working with vulnerable people in need over the 2-week Easter period.
Our current Food Coordinator Becky Hutchinson deserves a special mention as, under her guidance and with a lot of support from a wider team, she has managed to keep our Food Bank alive whilst maintaining the stringent social distancing measures required both for volunteers, members of the public dropping off bulk donations to us and professionals coming to collect parcels for those in need.
Not only this, but the Food Bank has been treated to an exceptional deep clean each weekend, with all shelves, floors, and walls pressure-washed and all donations wiped down as they arrive.
Our wonderful volunteers have readily adapted into volunteering on different days and times, but with fewer people on duty to give each other a safe space to work in, operating a rota system, so that we take it in turns to help out.
We wanted to extend our thanks also to the professional organisations that collect bags from us as they have been so understanding of our new procedures to keep us all safe and booking into appointments in advance through julie@youthtrain.org.uk means that each organisation is served in a safe timely way. If you book a collection appointment with us - please don’t forget to attend! You will be taking up a slot for another organisation that urgently needs food bags for those they support!
We are receiving fantastic support from Feeding Bradford, Fairshare and Innchurches who are helping us to access bulk food deliveries. Supermarket restrictions mean we have turned to cash and carry business uses and you may have seen our good news story in the local press whereby Rameshbhai Patel and Harkishan Mistry lent a hand to put us in touch with businesses to get us bulk supplies at cost prices.
We have been extremely heartened by the efforts of so many Bradfordians in donating food and money to us, some individuals have donated staggering amounts that we are humbled by. However, sourcing a steady food supply remains a constant worry for the Food Bank. All our donation points at supermarkets are OPEN and listed on our website. We particularly need UHT milk, cereals, tinned fruit and peanut butter. The money we receive is spent on buying food; having regular income in the form of standing orders, even for £5 a month means that the Food Bank can plan on shopping for all the essential items we need to fill the 1400+ food bags we give out. For more information about donating, please visit here.