23 December 2021

As we approach the end of another challenging year, we would like to wish everybody the very best for the festive season and for a better 2022.

The Food Bank can only operate with the support of our volunteers who work tirelessly to help those in need, and who give their time in sorting donations, filling food bags, driving for us, storing & delivering emergency food bags, and running our food collection points across the city.

A huge thanks to them for all their support this year.  

Thank you to all our donors (both individuals and organisations) for their generosity in giving food and money. We are especially grateful at such a challenging time. 

Welcome from the Chair

Hi,

Well, it has been another tough year. The cut to Universal Credit was described as "the most morally indefensible thing ever seen in politics" and we can look forward to the consequences of Brexit really beginning to have an effect over the coming months. 

It is thanks to our team of committed and dedicated volunteers, supported by our amazing Coordinator, that we are, so far, able to meet the demand for emergency food.
Thanks to all our volunteers and supporters. Bradford needs us and we need you.

Graham 

Graham Walker

Chair

It's the Big Food Bank Drop-off!

Last Saturday, our band of intrepid volunteers braved the bad weather to spend the day at Morrisons Victoria in Girlington, inviting shoppers to donate to the Food Bank so we can continue to help people around the city this winter. 

We collected over 300 bags of donations - huge thanks to everyone who generously donated to this and our Big October Drop-off!

Rockin' across the City for the Food Bank

Toy donations from Bradford West Rotary Club

Bradford West Rotary Club donated £500 and 90 shoe boxes filled with toys for children which we will send out through the city for Christmas. Thank you to all members for thinking of us and the families that we support. 

Thanks to St John's C of E Primary

Collection from North Halifax Grammar

In the picture...

David Starley, owner of The Bingley Gallery, organised an 'Alternative to Black Friday' event as a protest by independent stores in the face of the commercialism of Black Friday. The Gallery also ran a stall at the Saltaire Peace Fair. They received lots of public support and raised £200 for the Food Bank. Thanks to David and the Gallery, and to everyone who donated. 

Meet the Food Bank committee - Julie Woodhurst

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I work full time between two jobs at the moment. My main job is as Manager of a training and accreditation project called Youthtrain, which is based in Girlington. I also work a few hours a week helping dementia clients to live independently in their own homes. In my spare time time, I enjoy walking, photography, spending time with family and friends and playing ukulele with Haworth Ukulele Group; they have been great supporters of the Food Bank, donating food and money to us regularly over the years, including this year when we had a whip round at our Christmas party and raised £175.

How did you first become involved with the Food Bank, and how have things changed since then?

I first got involved with the food bank after reading an article about it in the Telegraph and Argus. It sounded interesting and I wanted to help. This was around 2006 and it was very, very different to how it is now. There were only a handful of volunteers, about seven or eight of us who met once every two weeks in a very small room in St Mary’s deconsecrated Church at Barkerend. We were Bradford’s only food bank and we used to pack 80 bags, which would last for a couple of weeks. The main issue for people at that time was the the three day gap between applying for unemployment benefit and receiving the first payment, so our food parcels were designed to help families bridge the three day gap. Now we have four packing sessions a week and we’re giving out upwards of 1,500 bags every week. We’re still one of the biggest food banks in Bradford, but we’re just one of more than 27 across the District. Years of austerity policies, along with the pandemic, Brexit and rising fuel costs means that more and more people are in need of help. 

What does your current role entail?

My role at the food bank is with the ‘communications team’. I look after the social media pages; Facebook, Twitter and Givey, our online donations platform. I also respond to queries about our food bank via these platforms and through email contact. Another part of my role is to coordinate the appointments for professional support workers to come and collect food parcels from us to give to their clients and for people to come and drop off any donations to us. We’ve also got a small but very lovely team of volunteers who deliver emergency food parcels to people in need when other support services aren’t able to do this and I coordinate this process. Behind the scenes, we call this team our ‘angels on wheels’ because this is the only way we can describe how amazing they’ve been, responding to emergency situations throughout the whole of the pandemic. 

What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the Food Bank and its users?

There will undoubtedly be some very difficult challenges in the weeks and months ahead for us as a food bank as the effects of the pandemic and Brexit continue to take their toll, so it’s likely that we could soon be giving out more than 1,500 food parcels a month. However we have an incredible team of volunteers who are very dedicated and committed to our cause and we also have the best supporters we could ask for, who regularly donate food and money to our charity so I’m confident we’ll be able to meet the demands put on us, one way or another!

What is the most rewarding part of being a trustee of the Food Bank?

I’m proud to be a trustee of Bradford’s first food bank and the only food bank to distribute food parcels via professional support agencies. It’s a demanding role at times, but I’m just glad that we’re able to help people who find themselves in difficulty, often through no fault of their own. In a rich country such as ours there’s no excuse for anyone to go to bed hungry at night. It should be the government’s job to ensure that people have enough to live on, but until we get a government that works to eradicate food poverty, I’m glad that food banks such as ours are here to help others. 

Raffle raises £135 for the Food Bank

Huge thanks to regular supporter Naz Ahmed for organising another raffle at the end of November to raise money for the Food Bank. With a fantastic hamper as the prize, the raffle and donations raised £135. 

Thank you to everyone who supported the raffle and to winner Lyn Muir who generously donated the prize to the food bank. 

Thanks to Barratt & David Wilson Community Fund

Many thanks to the team at the Barratt & David Wilson Community Fund for donating £1000 to the Food Bank. The Community Fund allows each of the organisation's divisions to donate £1,000 each month to a local charity working to improve the quality of life for those living in their area. We are delighted to have been awarded this donation which will make such a difference to the work that we do. 

A huge seasonal thanks to our volunteers

We couldn't continue to provide the help to people who really need it in the city without our team of committed volunteers. They give hours of their time to keep the Food Bank running smoothly - thank you to each and every one of you, and we hope you manage to get some rest over the festive season. 

A big vote to thanks to Becky, our Coordinator, for keeping things running smoothly!

Find us on social media

You can follow us on Twitter @BradMetFoodBank

And we are on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BradfordMetropolitanFoodBank

About the Food Bank

Bradford Metropolitan Food Bank (BMFB) was set up in 2004, with Company status coming around 2006, followed by charitable status. Our objective has always been to alleviate poverty across the Bradford district through the provision of food to those in need. The Food Bank is run by a committee of volunteers.

In its first year, BMFB gave out 1500 bags of food. We now give out well over 1500 bags per month. 

Provision of Food
BMFB operates a system of providing food to those in need through registered partners. We are different from most other food banks in that we do not supply food directly.  The partners assess needs and collect packed bags of food from the Food Bank each week to give out to people to alleviate food poverty.
The amount of donated food is never enough to meet needs so BMFB also purchases food, using financial donations from individuals and organisations.
The content of each food bag is based upon advice from nutritionists.  We estimate that one food bag will supply one person for 3 days.   

If you are in need of a food parcel, please be aware we cannot give out parcels direct to individuals. Please ask any professional working with you eg teacher, minister, housing worker.

For up-to-date information about where to get emergency food near to you, please visit https://bradfordfoodbanks.org.uk/

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If you are a professional organisation already working with vulnerable people to support them overcome food poverty - and you need food bags from us - please fill in the contact form on our website. We will send you our process and ask you to complete a registration form.

How you can help

Becky Hutchinson

Food Bank Coordinator