From shelf to warehouse

Uttlesford Food bank was established in 2014, and became part of the Trussell network of food banks in 2016. It was originally set up as a simple shelf in a cupboard at the back of a church in Saffron Walden.

Roll forward 10 years and the food bank has grown considerably. It now occupies a large main warehouse in Saffron Walden, with additional local storage hubs in Dunmow and Stansted. There are 3.5 employed staff who oversee operations and finance and a team of around 120 volunteers who support warehouse logistics, driving and fundraising.

Operating in a rural district

Uttlesford Food bank serves the whole of the Uttlesford District – an area with +90,000 residents. It is classed as a DEFRA 80 district, meaning 80% of its population live in rural settlements. The rural nature of the District means the food bank operates a delivery model – while clients are invited to collect their parcels from the warehouse in Saffron Walden, the reality is that many cannot or do not have access to modes of transport. For this reason, deliveries are made Monday-Friday from Saffron Walden in the North of the District and from Dun mow and Stansted in the South of the District.

Growing demand

Pre-pandemic, in 2019, the overall parcel-count over 12 months was 600. During the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, this soared to 1200 parcels. As the world started to return to normal, demand on the food bank continued to increase, growing to 1770 parcels in FY 23/24 and 1860 parcels in FY 24/25. Almost half of those we support are households with children. The most commonly cited reasons for referral to us are ‘rising cost of essentials’, ‘sudden unexpected expense’ and ‘ongoing impact of a physical or mental health condition’.

Our volunteers

Many of our volunteers have been with us for several years and we are well-served for support in relation to general operations and day-to-day running. Our regular posts on social media help to keep us front of mind, both as a support organisation and somewhere that people can volunteer. In addition to our team of regular volunteers, we have relationships with various corporate partners who donate their time to us as part of the corporate social responsibility.

Our volunteers come with many and varied skills, but most importantly they demonstrate compassion and a strong commitment to helping those who are experiencing hardship.

Beyond food

We know that accessing routes to help, particularly in a rural area, can be difficult. Alongside food parcels, we regularly sign-post and refer our clients to other support and services which they may find helpful. This can range from targeted Financial Inclusion work through to knowing the location of a local community cafe serving free or discounted hot meals. We also run community cook clubs for families, focusing on batch cooking and healthy eating. All of this looks at easing the burden of financial hardship, while also (re)connecting people with their local community.

As a Trussell network food bank, we operate independently while also feeding into national campaign work with them. This work focuses on ending the need for food banks in the UK. As part of this, we look at identifying the drivers of food bank use, in order that we can lobby national and local government to drive change which will make a difference for those we support. Over recent years, the key campaign has centred on creating an Essentials Guarantee around Universal Credit. We believe everyone should be able to afford life’s essentials and a guaranteed minimum income would be an important step towards this.

Funding and the future

The growth of our food bank to date has been driven by growing demand in our local population. As a local charity we have traditionally benefitted from a good level of support in terms of food and financial donations. we have sourced funding through our local council and through other dedicated funding initiatives related to tackling hardship and poverty. However, like many other food banks across the country and many of our partners, we have noticed a distinct drop in food donations in the last 2 years. Funding streams are also becoming increasingly restricted and the funding landscape is gaining a competitive edge as more partners seek to access the same pots.

Working together for change

Despite a challenging and shifting context, we are still looking forward with hope and optimism. We continue to have strong relationships with a broad range of community partners and by collaborating with them we are finding ways to strengthen the safety net for those we support. All of us are working with ever-decreasing budgets, but together we are finding ways to play to our strengths and close gaps. Our presence in local forums and panels means we are able to feed key insights into initiatives which look to tackle hardship. By speaking with and listening to our clients, we are able to ensure their voices are heard and represented in discussions and decision-making. We have come a long way from the simple shelf at the back of a local church. As much as the growth in demand is a sad reflection of broader socio-economic change, our work to support those who’re struggling while also challenging what’s driving the need, is something we’re committed to and will continue.