Food Bank Aid in Finchley, is a restaurant turned food supply bank, that houses large amounts of food and toiletries. It receives many donations and deliveries so there are always goods available to distribute to the large number of food banks relying on them. My youth group and I visited and helped them during the holidays.

 

This specific food bank distributes to 30 food banks across London, helping over 15,000 people to access food and meals throughout the busy week. 

 

Although many families and schools fundraise and donate large amounts of food, the majority of food distributed by this centre is purchased with money, mainly raised through fundraisers throughout the year. Roughly £40,000 is spent a week to support all the food banks. However the donations peak during the holidays as more people rush in to help.

 

The base layer and reason why this centre is able to support all these families and food banks is due to the generous help of volunteers. Many pitch in, any way they can to help from sorting the food on site, to collecting and delivering the food packages. David Lerner, is one of these volunteers, he says ‘sometimes I stack and sort food, most frequently I collect donations from schools’. This is the way he contributes to this charitable cause and he said he ‘values the opportunity to help collect the food that others have given, because I know how much I will be appreciated by those you are getting the food’. 

 

Together with a group, I visited this food charity centre. We sorted the food, ready to send to food banks across and around London for example Barnet, Harrow, Camden and Brent.

We learnt over the course of  a few hours the methodical and quick way to sort a large delivery, efficiently. At the beginning it was slightly overwhelming, as we were worried about not understanding the system. However the system was incredibly easy to pick up on and no one noticed how the time flew by. It was much easier than anyone would have thought it would be and left everyone with a great feeling of positivity. 

 

With a few hours to spare during the holidays we were able to help and give to people who are in need. This was not a hard task to do and I urge anyone with any time or unneeded food to give to food banks or aids so that they can increase their support with your help.