About
About our foodbank
Here is an introduction to our project.
Our foodbank was a project founded by local churches, led by Hope Community Church and community groups, working together towards stopping hunger in our local area. Although we are ‘faith-based’ we are non-religious. That is to say our vision and values are guided by the Christian teaching and practice, but supporting people who are experiencing financial hardship, whilst working towards ending the need for food banks, is not a faith activity. We are a grass rooted charity made up of staff and volunteers of different faiths and beliefs who agree with our vision and values.
Our services are accessed freely without discrimination, by people of many other faiths and no religious faith, reflecting the diversity of our society today.
Our vision is for a community without the need for food banks.
Our values are at the heart of everything we do, helping us navigate tough decisions and support communities effectively. Leicester South Food Bank is based on, shaped, and guided by Christian principles. These values have strong roots in the Christian teaching and practice, whilst also being accessible and meaningful for people, whatever their background. These values provide a strong shared foundation for collaboration towards our goal of ending the need for food banks in the community.
Our values
Our values are the fundamental driving principles that encapsulate the passion and motivation for our work.
Compassion: We stand in solidarity with people that need the help of food banks. We put the wellbeing of people served by food banks above everything else. We always uphold and protect their dignity.
Justice: We are motivated by a desire to see a more just society. It’s not right that anyone is facing hunger and poverty. Everyone should have enough income to afford the essentials.
Community: We believe we share the responsibility to support one another in our communities. To create change, we must work together for a fairer society.
Dignity: We recognise the innate value of each individual person and seek to prioritise the other person’s needs and concerns in the ethos of inclusivity and friendship. Regardless of background.
We currently have two sessions running, Monday 4-5pm and Thursday 1-2pm, where we welcome people with a cup of tea or coffee and a biscuit. Whilst emergency food parcels are being made up, people have a chance to speak to our advocacy services from, Helping Hands, Christians Against Poverty (CAP) and other sign posted agencies on any issues that is causing the crisis. We offer advice on housing, benefits, debt and other issues that can help lift people out of the poverty trap.
We are working with schools, and charities in the 3 hospitals around Leicestershire providing emergency food parcels for the families they are working with. We also work closely with mental health and NHS health visitors to ensure the families they are working with get help quickly.
We provide emergency food parcels for both University student support services and Leicester college as teachers and lectures are best placed to identify students that for what ever reason are struggling to cope.