Page 56 - Phonebox Magazine November 2015

Serving Food with the Food Bank
Recently Nicholas Brinner, distributer and business manager at the Food Bank, kindly invited me on a tour of the warehouse in Milton Keynes. The warehouse shelves are piled high with tins and packets, all organised and
labelled by volunteers. This year, they have given out over 6630 food parcels to date, with this number on the increase every single day. So, what is the process once your food reaches the warehouse? First, it is put into trolleys, then checked and sorted by the volunteers; they check each food item over five times to ensure it’s in date and of good quality. Next the donations are organised into food groups and put onto the shelves. Finally, a food parcel is put together and stored in crates ready to be given to a service-user.
As Nicholas explained, a lot of people assume the Food Bank only supplies people who are, for example, on benefits. In fact, there is such a wide range of service-users from around the locality who need to use the food bank for many different reasons. Even just an unexpected bill or the death of a loved one can send a family into crisis and it is often the Food Bank who they will turn to for that extra bit of help.
Recently, I went to help out at one of the food serving sessions at the Christian Centre in Milton Keynes. These sessions last for about an hour, and people from the locality can come and pick up a food parcel if they have requested one. It means so much to the individuals in need of food, and, as Nicholas says, just one food parcel can help them out of a situation and get them back on track.
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56 Phonebox Magazine