About our foodbank

Our Story

Newham District Foodbank is part of the charity Ascension Community Trust , and officially opened on 9th June 2021.

We grew out of the Ascension Foodbank, which was started in response to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. The foodbank began with us raiding our cupboards for tins, pasta, and other non-perishables, so that local people had food to eat during a very challenging time. The need for emergency food is still continues today, due to the cost of living crisis, with demand for the foodbank only growing over the last 5 years.

To continue our journey combating hunger in East London, we became part of the Trussell network of Foodbanks. This has enabled us to support people in the long term, working together to create a UK without the need for foodbanks.

As well as food provision, our locations now offer a drop-in advice service, so that our users can get access to the support they need to escape food poverty.

Our Impact

Our Food Bank aims to provide practical support to people facing hunger; giving emergency food parcels and advice to local residents in need.

As residents of Newham, we understand that our community is transient, diverse, and faces a lot of specific issues that make our services vital. 38% of people in Newham live in poverty, the 4th highest poverty rate in London boroughs, and our child poverty rate is 45%. Newham also has the highest density of people in temporary accommodation out of every borough. (Source – Trust for London)

Our staff and volunteers are always working to reduce the impact of poverty in our community. During the last financial year:

• We gave 4272 parcels to users, feeding 751 households – that’s 2770 Adults and 1502 children!
• 43% of households we served included children, with 9% containing at least 3 people 16 years and under.
• 38% of our users have no form of income – the Trussell national average is only 9%.
• The top 3 reasons why people were referred to us are 1) The rising costs of essentials , 2) No access to financial support due to immigration status and 3) Ongoing impact of physical/mental health condition. Our second-highest reason, ‘No access to financial support due to immigration status’ was listed for 574 people, and is 28% higher than the national average.
• The top 3 wards helped by our Food Banks were Custom House (30%), East Ham South (10%) and Beckton (7%).

We are also so grateful to receive committed support from our donors. Thanks to them, we received 13 tonnes of food donations in the last financial year, as well as a further 18 tonnes bought through monetary donations! Thank you for helping us support our local community, and make sure that nobody in Newham goes hungry.

 

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