2024 was our busiest year ever. In December alone, we provided 368 food parcels, feeding 610 adults and 547 children. Thank you to everyone for your support that has allowed us to provide help to so many throughout the Guildford area.

We value each and every donation from the residents of Guildford. That is why we are meticulous in avoiding waste, which also minimises our environmental impact.

How is this accomplished?

Our food bank operates on a referral basis rather than being a drop-in centre. Referrers such as the Guildford Borough Council Community Well-being team, Citizens Advice, GPs, social services, home school link works etc. speak to clients to determine their dietary and household preferences before they arrive at the Food Bank at a scheduled session on either Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday. We tailor each food parcel for our client’s household with particular scrutiny for vegetarians, nut allergies, lactose intolerance, gluten-free, low sugar, Halal and so on. This forward planning means that, for example, we can provide the right size of nappy for families with babies, the appropriate sanitary wear and the most appropriate spread for bread or toast (not everyone loves marmite!!). Parcels are packed and ready for the clients when they arrive.

We restock every week. We know of the items where we are low and the items where we can meet demand. If we are short of goods we update our Facebook page and alter the sign in Sainsbury’s to give guidance to shoppers on the items most needed that week.

If we collect more donations than we can store from Pets at Home, a volunteer takes the surplus to Battersea Cats and Dogs Home. Monetary donations are used to only buy those items identified as running low in supply.

On Mondays we have a large team that sorts donations from customers at Waitrose and Sainsbury’s and those dropped off by individuals, churches and local organisations. We sort and date all donations & filter out any short-dated or (in rare cases) out of date products. The sorting team carefully stacks the dated produce in dated crates with the shortest dated products in the top crate – so that they are used first each week by the packing teams. If we do find items which are too out of date for clients to select as ‘extras’, volunteers will take them to use for chicken or pig food.

In each parcel, we provide fresh produce (vegetables, fruit, bread, milk, cheese, eggs and butter). These are bought each week on demand. The Guildford Lions very generously pay for potatoes, carrots and eggs every week. Due to our referral system, we know in advance the clients expected at each session. This allows us to order precisely the fresh foodstuffs through Cheesemans and Sainsbury’s. If there is any short-dated fresh food that we have an excess of, we take this to the Hive in Park Barn for the ‘Community Fridge’.

We are also keen to re-use and recycle as best we can. Our cardboard is collected by Cheesemans, for recycling, when they deliver our fresh produce. We have a recycling bin and collect and take everything possible to be recycled. We also limit our use of plastic bags, instead preferring the use of cardboard packing boxes from supermarkets to pack food parcels in (which can then be recycled by clients – or returned to us for re-use).

At North Guildford Food Bank we are in awe of everyone who donates to us. Rest assured that we take no donation for granted and do our utmost to ensure every item goes to those that need it. Thank you Guildford for your continuing generosity!!