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How do I get a food pack from the Food Bank?

Access to the Food Bank is by referral only. We do not operate a walk-in service because it is important to us that other agencies and voluntary groups are also caring for those who come to the Food Bank.

 

A referral means that Food Bank volunteers do not need to ask questions about the circumstances of those who come in. A referral also ensures that a food pack will be ready for collection.

Please click on Read more below for a list of people (referral agencies) who can refer you to the Food Bank and for further information about how the Food Bank operates.

A list of current referral agencies appears below:

 

  • Citizens Advice Bureau
  • 3 Counties Money Advice
  • Health Centres
  • A child’s school and Home School Link Worker
  • A local Church
  • Various social support and care agencies, e.g. Home Start, Safeguarding, Family Support, Voluntary Action South West Surrey.

 

This is not an exhaustive list and new agencies are welcome to approach the Food Bank to register as referrers.

 

Following a conversation with the Referral Agency, you may be given a referral form to take to the Food Bank. The location and opening times of the Food Bank are printed on the form.

 

During the Covid-19 pandemic, if contact with the Referral Agency can only be by phone, then an e-mail referral from them will be accepted.

 

The Food Bank does not assess the needs of those who come for support but relies on those agencies which refer people to it.

Food packs are designed to provide either a family or a single person with emergency supplies to sustain them for three days.

The Food Bank tries to respond to the need for vegetarian, free-from, etc, items but can only hand out the donations received. People need to take responsibility to check that everything in the pack is suitable for them.

 

How do I refer someone to the Food bank for support?

Food poverty is usually a symptom of deeper issues rather than being the only problem that people face.

 

It is therefore important to us that other agencies and voluntary groups are also caring for those who come to the Food Bank.

 

Any agency, statutory or voluntary, which is likely to need to refer people for food support, is invited to contact the Food Bank and register as a referral agency.

We ask potential referrers to contact us and to let us have contact details of the most suitable person to whom to send information and referral forms. Each referral form has a unique number and asks only for a family name, the number of adults and children involved, and whether or not this is the first referral.

 

During the pandemic, as some agency workers are not meeting people face to face, we have been accepting referrals by e-mail. The e-mail should include a family name, the number of adults and children involved and whether it is a repeat referral. Those being referred are asked to come to the Food Bank and give a family name to be matched to the referral which the Food Bank will have received.

 

The Food Bank does not keep information other than the numbers involved and whether or not people are returning for continued support. Names and personal details are not kept beyond each visit and nothing is transferred to a computer.

The Food Bank may contact a referring agency if the person they refer raises an issue which Food Bank volunteers are unable to address.

 

Contact us:

email: [email protected]

Haslemere Food Bank

Haslemere Food Bank is an independent Trust providing food support to families and individuals in need in Haslemere and the surrounding area. The Food Bank collects donations of food and toiletries from the local community and prepares food packs for those referred to it by agencies actively supporting people in food poverty. It is a registered charity, run entirely by volunteers and dependent on the local community for support.

 

The Food Bank is extremely grateful to all our donors, volunteers, collection points, referrals agencies, Haslemere Methodist Church, and to all our supporters.

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Collection points

The Food Bank’s main collection points are in Waitrose and in Tesco (Tesco also has a collection point for Fare share and the Trussell Trust). We would not discourage people from donating to them, but if you wish to donate to your local Food Bank, please check that you are using the right collection point.

In addition, each week, boxes with a Food Bank logo are put out at other sites around Haslemere and the surrounding area for “Trolley Tuesday” They are left out on Tuesday mornings 9:00 am – 11:30 am and then returned to the store for sorting and storage.

The location of the Trolley Tuesday boxes may be found via the link below: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1Kc8m_beTincolt8HE4xHYhKul__Dt9uh&usp=sharing

Churches*
Our Lady of Lourdes, Haslemere
St. Bartholomew’s, Haslemere
Methodist Church, Haslemere
St Peter’s Lynchmere
St Paul’s Camelsdale
St. Teresa’s, Chiddingfold
St. Stephen’s, Shottermill
All Saints’, Grayswood Parish
St. Anselm’s, Beacon Hill
St. Alban’s, Beacon Hill
Three Counties Church, Hammer
St. Christopher’s, Haslemere

 

Supermarkets & Shops:
Tesco, Haslemere
Waitrose, Haslemere
Fernhurst Village shop

What can I donate?

Thank you SO MUCH

for your donations, they benefit a great part of our community.

We are receiving donations of: 

Tinned meat
Tinned spaghetti
Tinned macaroni/ravioli
Tinned soup
Tinned fish
Tinned fruit
Custard
Rice pudding
Honey
Hot chocolate
Bath soap
Shampoo

Multiple modest packets are much more helpful where possible.

Large packets and bags are very generous donations but are difficult to fit into food packs. 

 

Thank you for your support.

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How do We work?

 

 

Access to the Food Bank is by referral only!

It is important to us that other agencies and voluntary groups are also caring for those who come to the Food Bank.

Once someone has been referred to the Food Bank and has been given a referral form, there is no further assessment when they come to the Food Bank to collect*. 

 

The form gives the location of the Food Bank and its opening times. The Food Bank does not advertise its location as it is not helpful if people just turn up without first being referred.

*During the pandemic, as some agency workers are not meeting people face-to-face, we have been accepting referrals by e-mail. Those being referred are asked to come to the Food Bank and give a family name to be matched to the referral the Food Bank will have received.

 

Anyone who is in need of food support should therefore seek out one of our referral agencies (it is often a person or place which is already known to them) and ask to be referred.

If people know of someone who they feel would benefit from food support they should encourage them to seek a referral.

For more information, contact the Food Bank directly, preferably by e-mail: [email protected].

The Food Bank collects donations of food (in tins, packets, jars, bottles, etc) and toiletries through our various collection points (see Collection Points).

 

From these donations, food packs are prepared for distribution to families and individuals in need of food support who are referred to us by a variety of agencies.

 

Food packs are designed to provide either a family or a single person with emergency supplies to sustain them for three days.

 

The Food Bank tries to respond to the need for vegetarian, free-from, etc, items but can only hand out the donations received. People need to take responsibility to check that everything in the pack is suitable for them.

 

The Food Bank does not assess the needs of those who come for support but relies on those agencies which refer people to it.

The Food Bank also has a Facebook page, which includes a Just Giving link.

 

Haslemere Food Bank Trust is a Registered Charity, No. 1193577. It has applied for Gift Aid status and awaits HMRC’s response.

Volunteering with Us

The Food Bank is run entirely by volunteers. Their work includes receiving, sorting, and storing donated foodstuffs and toiletries, preparing food packs and meeting those who are referred for support when they come to collect. Our volunteers also act as Trustees and cover the administrative and financial aspects of the work. Because we have no office or permanent presence, we prefer people to e-mail rather than telephone.

All our volunteers receive a preliminary induction session exploring the ethos of the Food Bank and how it functions.

 

During this pandemic, we are not recruiting volunteers as we work in a restricted space and we must maintain safe distancing. We will review the situation once the pandemic ceases to dominate every aspect of life.

 

Volunteers need to be over 18 years of age and will need to have successfully completed an on-line safeguarding course in relation to vulnerable adults.

Our History

Haslemere Food Bank began as an initiative of all the churches in Haslemere, following an enquiry from the Citizens Advice Bureau resulting from their experience of addressing the problems of people struggling to make ends meet.

 

After some preliminary meetings, and the usual process of setting up a committee, finding a suitable venue, creating a store, recruiting and training volunteers and seeking donations the Food Bank opened its doors on 1st July 2013.

It was decided that the Food Bank would stick to a simple process of being an intermediary between those who wished to donate food and those in need of food support. Decisions about who should come would be in the hands of “referral agencies” who would have already assessed the needs of people they were supporting and then referred them to the Food Bank for food support.

 

These referral agencies were allocated referral forms (each with a unique number) to complete and give to their clients, indicating only the family name, the number of adults and children to be supported and a note to say that they were new to the food bank or returning. Only the numbers involved were to be kept as a permanent record. No other information was to be kept either physically or on the computer.

 

Donations came through “collection points”, one each in Waitrose and Tesco supermarkets, one in each of the churches in Haslemere and the surrounding area, and one or two others by request in various settings. Lists of required foodstuffs and toiletries were to be sent to each collection point each month and published on our website – haslemerefoodbanktrust.org.

 

On collection, donations were transferred to the central store, sorted, ‘best-before date marked, and then put on the shelves. From these stored donations, packs for families and individuals were made up each week to be given to those coming with referral forms from the various referral agencies. 

 

Each pack was reckoned to be able to feed a family/individual for 3 days. The venue was chosen because it had a daily café to which anyone could come for a drink and a chat, so that food bank referees would not be easily identified as different from other café users. It also gave the chance to offer hospitality, to provide a drink and a nibble as well as the opportunity to chat, which some people welcomed whilst others preferred as short a visit as possible.

 

There would always be two volunteers on duty, one to offer hospitality whilst the other exchanged the referral form for the food pack. Volunteers were trained in the practicalities of keeping the store in good order and making up packs but more importantly in making people feel welcome and at home, without being intrusive and whilst maintaining strict confidentiality in relation to any information shared. The system set up back in 2013 has proved to be effective, both in the initial stages of the life of the Food Bank but also in the mighty surge in demand which came with the onset of the covid pandemic in March 2020.

 

In March 2021, the Food Bank was receiving five times as many requests for support as in March 2020. That this has been coped with and that the system is still intact is very gratifying. It is good to report that the Food Bank works well, within its limited remit. We have a good team of volunteers who have risen to the challenge of the pandemic and we have a generous and widespread set of supporters and donors throughout the surrounding community.

 

We have good relationships with our collection points and our referral agencies. Nevertheless, we would be much happier if the Food Bank did not need to exist and would be very pleased if demand ceased altogether.

 

Whilst the Food Bank has brought out the best in those people who make it work, it reflects something of the worst in a comparatively wealthy nation which allows the need for food banks to continue and to increase.

 

Contact Us

Haslemere Food Bank is an independent Trust providing food support to families and individuals in need in Haslemere and the surrounding area.

 

@Copyright Haslemere Food Bank Trust is a Registered Charity, No. 1193577