August 5, 2016

Berwick Food Bank

Berwick Food Bank is available to any household who may be in crisis or have financial restrictions. The service is predominantly made up from a number of volunteers who give up their time to make the service sustainable, but our staff also use their time to assist and provide the service and extra support to those households who need it.

Food Bank ServiceReferral Times
(via telephone)
Collection Times
(by appointment only)
Monday10.00am - 2.00pm2.00pm - 4.00pm
Tuesday 10.00am - 2.00pmCLOSED
Wednesday10.00am - 2.00pm2.00pm - 4.00pm
Thursday10.00am - 2.00pmCLOSED
Friday10.00am - 2.00pm2.00pm - 4.00pm

If you require assistance from the Food Bank, please enter contact us via telephone in the first instance, referrals can be made 5 days a week with collections being available on Monday, Wednesday and Friday Only. We will complete a short form with you to gather some information on your situation and how many people are in your household and arrange an appointment for you to come in for a further chat and to collect your parcel.

Help and support will be offered depending on this situation, our aim is to help you through the crisis you are facing, this may be through conversations with our experienced staff who can look at ways to help and support through by conducting checks on benefits, looking at your finances with you, as well as signposting to other organisations that will be able to assist with more complex needs.

All contact is Private and Confidential.

The food bank can be accessed in a number of ways:

  • by contacting or visiting us directly here at The William Elder Building.
  • by speaking with a teacher at your child’s school.
  • your GP practice, Health Visitor, Social Worker or Midwife
  • Berwick Jobcentre Plus office
  • by North Family Hub they will contact us on your behalf.
  • via the Citizens Advice Berwick Office if you are currently working with them.
  • or you can also contact NETS who will assist you and get in touch with us

Produce Donations

Donations are always welcome for the Food Bank.  We are always grateful to receive non perishable food items, adult and children’s toiletries and we also try to keep a stock of cat and dog food to support those with pets at home. We can also direct you to the Local Pet Food Bank where extra support for the little or big furry friends in your family.

Donations can be made directly to us at The William Elder Building on Castlegate, in the collection box behind the tills in Tesco Berwick in Tweedmouth. Other Donation points are Asda in Tweedmouth, Morrisons, The Newcastle Building Society, Belford and Seahouses Co-operative store.

Items we are currently looking for:

We really need some bags for life if anyone has some spare, we are also on the lookout for Egg cartons/boxes. You can hand in to the William Elder building Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm.

All items except Cereal can be donated at this time.


Financial Donations

If you would prefer to make a cash donation then this is also appreciated and any money donated goes towards purchasing food supplies such as bread, butter and eggs, items that are in shortage or special dietary requests that we have no stock of.

Some of the donations also go towards the delivery of the support given to customers around there issues and also towards the rent of the room. If you would like to donate a sum of money, large or small then please get in touch or pop in and see us.

The extra support we offer is vital to many of our customers, it includes ensuring that every customer is in receipt of the correct benefits by doing benefits checks and checking eligibility, budgeting sessions help customers look at how and where they can make savings in their finances.

You can donate to us online via Local Giving, either a one off donation or if you prefer, you can set up a monthly donation.

If you are a UK tax payer then you can also sign up for Gift Aid. We have Gift Aid forms available for those giving cash donations if you would like to fill one in, please get in touch.

Local Giving also allows people to set up fundraisers on our behalf, if you fancy raising some money for us then please have a look at this on the Local Giving platform.


Distribution

MonthParcels Given to Individuals and Partner OrganisationsNumber of Adults SupportedNumber of Children SupportedMonthParcels Given to Individuals and Partner OrganisationsNumber of Adults SupportedNumber of Children Supported
Jan678447Jul
Feb313911Aug
MarSep
AprOct
MayNov
JunDec

2020 – 2022

202120222023
Parcels Distributed in 2020Adults Supported in 2020Children Supported in 2020Parcels Distributed in 2021Adults Supported in 2021Children Supported in 2021Parcels Distributed in 2022Adults Supported in 2022Children Supported in 2022Parcels Distributed in 2023Adults Supported in 2023Children Supported in 2023
Jan566616Jan608013Jan506953Jan749639
Feb506431Feb709820Feb395622Feb617640
Mar709040Mar679322Mar426435Mar679142
Apr11314260Apr567223Apr325230Apr557436
May12517066May313414May375629May344324
Jun9612755Jun354315Jun284123Jun527055
July9111659July334121July356030July446430
Aug679861Aug334121Aug487651Aug335615
Sep628651Sep506524Sep578942Sep446023
Oct516227
140 Packed Lunches
Oct455210Oct436540Oct33409
Nov536741Nov384939Nov487364Nov355017
Dec63 Standard
60 Christmas
81

67
34

91
Dec46 Standard
30 Christmas
66

44
50

75
Dec49 Standard
40 Christmas
75

66
42

75
Dec50 Standard
42 Christmas
78

66
51

68

Distribution from 2014 – 2019

201920182017201620152014
Parcels given to Individuals596Parcels given to Individuals358Parcels given to Individuals324Parcels given to Individuals 205Parcels given to Individuals 125Parcels given to Individuals 47
Christmas parcels 45Christmas parcels 67Christmas parcels 61Christmas parcels 68
Standard parcels given to partner organisations6Standard parcels given to partner organisations6Standard parcels given to partner organisations18Standard parcels given to partner organisations 365Parcels given to partner organisations 268Parcels given to partner organisations 133

We have 2 Coronavirus Impact Reports. Click the links to view the documents:
Foodbank Coronavirus Impact Report, Issue 1
Foodbank Coronavirus Impact Report, Issue 2