St. George's congregation kindly support our local food bank by donating dry and tinned goods when attending Sunday church services.
Our friends at Atherton and Leigh Food bank are grateful for the regular support they receive from St George’s parishioners.
They rely on our food donations to help feed local people in crisis, and encourage us to keep on buying items from their list and donating them, with the exhortation, “From pasta to puddings, please give in-date non-perishable food.”
Items most needed are:
Sugar, coffee/ tinned meat, fish, vegetables, fruit and rice pudding/ instant mashed potato/ long-life milk/juice or cordial/ rice, pasta and sauces/ biscuits, snack bars and custard
.They operate three foodbank centres that are open as follows:
Atherton Parish Church, Market St, Atherton (Wednesday 1pm - 3pm &Friday 1pm - 3pm)
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Kingsleigh Methodist Church, King St, Leigh (Monday 10am - 12pm & Tuesday 10am - 12pm)
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Leigh Baptist Church, Church Road, Leigh (Thursday 10am - 12pm) www.leighbaptistchurch.org.uk
How does a foodbank work?
There are five basic steps to the operation of most local foodbanks.
Step 1 - Food is donated
All the food given to individuals in crisis is donated by schools, churches, businesses, individuals, or through supermarket collections. These, engage shoppers at supermarkets where volunteers offer them a ‘foodbank shopping list’ and ask them to buy an extra item with their shop. This is then collected at the checkout before being taken to the foodbank warehouse. The food received in church is normally taken by a volunteer, to whichever church is operating as the foodbank centre that particular day.
Step 2 - Food is sorted and stored
At the warehouse, volunteers sort the donations according to type and 'best before date'. They also check it is undamaged and fit for purpose and pack it into boxes for storage and future use. Food is then taken to foodbank centres in date order and made up into food parcels for those in crisis.
Step 3 - Frontline professionals identify people in need
Care professionals such as doctors, health visitors, social workers, Citizens Advice Bureau staff, school staff and welfare officers, the police and probation officers, amongst others, identify people in crisis and issue them with a foodbank voucher.
step 4 - Clients receive food
Clients bring their voucher to a foodbank centre where it can be exchanged for three days supply of emergency food. Food parcels have been designed by dieticians to provide recipients with nutritionally balanced food.
Some foodbanks also run a delivery service, which takes emergency foodboxes to clients living too far away to walk and others who may be unable to get to a centre.
Step 5 - Clients are signposted to further support
Volunteers meet clients over a cup of tea or hot meal and are able to signpost people to agencies which can help resolve the longer-term problem. As foodbanks are an emergency food-provision service, it is important to get clients in touch with organisations who can help them address all underlying problems.
Get Involved
Your gifts of time, funds or food can help stop local people going hungry. Foodbanks could not operate without volunteers.
Fundraise
With your friends, in the office, at school, as a family, or just by yourself... there are so many fun ways to support the foodbank including having jumble sale, raffle or sponsored event.
Volunteer
- Sort donated food ready for distribution
- Help meet clients and give out food at one of the three foodbank centres
- Help out at a foodbank supermarket collection day
- Donate money
- Regular gifts: Regular giving helps us to plan ahead, making sure that we are always here to help people in crisis ...
- One-off gifts: Foodbanks need funds to keep going. We appreciate whatever you can give, big or small...
- Give food
Please continue to bring any food donations to the collection point in church. Want to help even more? Could you start a foodbank collection point at your work, school or community resource?
Become a sponsor or partner
If you are a company that shares our belief that no-one should go hungry in our local area, Atherton and Leigh Foodbank would love you to work with them. There are many ways to get involved, from volunteering as a team building activity to sharing your expertise. To find out more about getting involved please contact as below. Thank you!
For further enquiries contact Atherton and Leigh Foodbank at
Email: info@athertonleigh.foodbank.org.uk
Tel: Warren Done 07980 881925