Loaves & Fishes

To contact the foodbank please email:       sevenoaksfoodbank@gmail.com

CHRISTMAS:  A big ‘thank you’ to all who donated special items for Christmas. It is very much appreciated.

Loaves and Fishes Foodbank operates from St John’s Church Hall.  At the moment it is supporting up to 40 families with young children by giving them a large bag of non-perishable food every week of the year.  The food is distributed on Thursday afternoons – volunteers sort the food from 1pm and families collect between 2-4pm.

Loaves and Fishes Foodbank is an HMRC registered charity – XT36605.  Fr Robin is one of the trustees.

Food is donated by churches of all denominations across the district.  Local schools, other charitable organisations and small businesses also support this project as do many individuals. Sainsbury’s has supported it since its inception.  If you wish to donate please see the list of non-perishable items below and if possible deliver them to St John’s Church hall on Thursday afternoons between 1-3.30pm.  At other times small amounts of food can be left in the church, accessed through the glass door: this is usually accessible between about 9am and 5pm, except on Tuesdays.

We have recently changed our referral process in order to help people out of debt, maximise their income and reduce dependency. We now only accept referrals from partner agencies who have some knowledge of the financial circumstances of families. By doing this, families are directed towards other sources of help as well,  such as debt counselling and benefit maximising in addition to the Foodbank.  This is working well, especially with CAB and West Kent Housing.

Other agencies such as schools, churches, health centres, are now asked to signpost families to any one of the partner agencies.

We still provide an emergency basket of food so that no-one is refused help but we do ask the recipient to seek a referral in order to receive on going help, it that is required.

At the moment we urgently need:

Tinned vegetables (preferably peas/carrots/green beans/sweetcorn)

Tinned meat for hot meals (eg minced beef & onion, stew/casserole, chicken in white sauce)

and also, in order of importance…

UHT milk

Fruit juice (long-life)/fruit squash

Sauces for rice dishes: curry/Sweet & Sour

Tomato ketchup/brown sauce/mayonnaise

Tinned ravioli

Tinned macaroni cheese

Tinned meat for cold meals (eg ham, luncheon meat, corned beef)

Custard (tins or cartons, but not custard powder)

Rice pudding (tinned)

Coffee/hot chocolate

Sugar

Honey/jam/marmalade

[We have large stocks of pasta, baked beans, tinned tomatoes, tinned fruit and tinned soup.  Our storage space is very limited, so instead of these items contributions from the list above would be most welcome, if possible.]

TO THE LOAVES AND FISHES FOODBANK DONORS – Thank you!

Thank you all for the amazing support you give to our small independent foodbank (Loaves and Fishes) here in Sevenoaks.  Our families’ everyday lives are changed for the better because of your generosity.

Your donations, be they regular or occasional, the continuing endeavours of our volunteers who manage the foodbank week by week and the construction of a purpose built foodstore in St John’s church hall means that we are now supporting up to 40 families in the district on a regular basis.

It is now more than five years since the Loaves and Fishes foodbank was set up with the following aims:

• to provide basic food to families with children who have been recommended to us by a ‘bona fide’ source, until they no longer require assistance, and to be prepared to help other people on a one off emergency basis if resources allow;
• to operate the foodbank in as simple and uncomplicated way as possible – FOOD IN (from donors) and FOOD OUT (to families).
• to offer cups of tea and a listening ear to anyone who might appreciate this service but on the understanding that our volunteers are not professional counsellors or social workers;
• to be non-judgemental of recipient families or of any government or other agencies involved in supporting them;

Today the foodbank finds itself the recipient of much goodwill and support from people in our community of Sevenoaks and surrounding villages. In the light of this experience and looking to the future:

• the foodbank continues to need and to welcome donations of non perishable food;
• the foodbank does not require further financial contributions for the time being.  Thanks to the generosity of some of our donors we have a very healthy bank balance which, for the foreseeable future, is sufficient to buy food when stocks are low.  This means that our families can always be provided for;
• the foodbank currently supports up to 40 families – some long term and others only for a short time.  This is the maximum we can manage given the limited storage space and our wish to maintain its ethos.

Thank you very much again for your continuing support for the Loaves and Fishes families.