Northern Devon Foodbank

by James Craigie in Bideford, Devon, United Kingdom

Northern Devon Foodbank

Total raised £1,612

 
Gift Aid
+ est. £173.00
£25,000 target 72 days left
6% 14 supporters
Support
Flexible funding – this project will receive all pledges made by 20th January 2025 at 6:22pm

We aim to provide relief to those in food poverty while working to end food poverty in North Devon and Torridge.

by James Craigie in Bideford, Devon, United Kingdom

 donated match funding
Aviva Community Fund is providing live match funding

Our vision is to ensure that everyone in North Devon and Torridge has access to adequate nutrition, we saw 1,800 unique households across our 6 branches last year 23/24.  We are currently seeing around 100 households per week amounting to 240~260 individuals, this results in us giving out over £3,000 worth of food each week.  While we get great support across our community the need continues to grow each year.

This winter we want to make sure the support we give has a better, longer term impact by providing extra wrap around support from budgeting training to benefits advice with our financial inclusion workers.  Northern Devon Foodbank is often the place where people come who have been failed by overstretched services and the charity sector is doing its best to fill in the gaps where society is failing.  We believe that it is possible to create a society where nobody needs emergency food, however, it will no change without the compassion and commitment of everyone to make that change.

We want to pioneer a number of initiatives in the coming twelve months that embed change into our community.  Working with all stakeholders we are exploring ways to build a social supermarket for North Devon and Torridge that address long term causes of food poverty include individual skills as well as societal challenges, and climate change's impact on affordability of food.

It may cost around £30 to provide the average food parcel, with on average households only needing 2.2 parcels in the year to get through their crisis.  Dealing with the longer term challenges costs more initially, but we believe that it ultimately makes our society fairer, more sustainable and resilient to deal with underlying causes.  Training courses can be as little as £50 per participant to arrange, while full benefit and debt advice can cost as little as £100 per household.  However, the skills and information bring far greater rewards to the household and our community.

Reaching our target to raise £50,000 will mean we can train more volunteers and establish more outreach in the more rural areas of North Devon and Torridge.  Torridge is the second largest land area for a District Council in England and that means the rural poor can be extremely isolated.  Torridge is also in the 10 poorest Districts for average annual earnings of its residents, that means seasonal changes to employment presenting repeated benefit delays adjusting as income changes.

The 5 week wait for help for people initially applying for Universal Credit, can be devastating for a household where the primary earner has lost income due to ill health.  We know the NHS is struggling and often this means waiting times are longer than we might wish.  This forces households into debt and risk of homelessness even if they had a relatively high income.  Households that had low incomes have almost no possibility of building up strong financial resilience.


Rewards

This project offers rewards in return for your donation.

£5 or more

Northern Devon Foodbank Trolley Token

A branded trolley token as a small thank you for your contribution to our efforts to bring an end to food poverty.

£10 or more

A Shopping List Jotter

Our thank you is that helpful reminder that enables you to get the shopping you need and remembering a little something for those that need some help. Our branded shopping list jotter means you can write your weekly shopping lists for a whole year and if you add a few items for us that would be really appreciated!

£20 or more

A tote bag to carry your shopping

As a thank you we will send a branded cloth bag to help you bring your shopping home, if you've been able to put a few things in our collection bin while you were shopping we appreciate it even more!

£35 or more

A branded tea-towel and recipe cards

This thank you helps give you inspiration to make meals in the kitchen and clean up afterwards. Providing the average value of the food in a voucher means we can help a household through their time of crisis.

£50 or more

A Northern Devon Foodbank Apron

As a thank you for helping to feed vulnerable families in the community you can have a thank you of a Northern Devon Foodbank Apron, so you can cook up storm in the family kitchen.

£100 or more

Give Lasting Hope

The materials to run a budgeting course for 10 people costs £250, while an advice session cost upwards of £100. With this donation you are making sure that we give more than just a food parcel, we give the skills need to build a more resilient society. You will get a Christmas card from our Chair of Trustees and personal signed copy of our impact report at Christmas 2025 on our financial inclusion and budgeting work.

£250 or more

Backers Roll of Honour

Get your name on our roll of honour, which will be placed outside each of our branches and on our vehicles to demonstrate your commitment for a more compassionate society.

£500 or more

0 of 10 claimed

Be one of 10 van sponsors

Only ten places are available on our van sponsorship for 2025/26 and shows you or your businesses commitment to reaching all parts of our rural community. Delivering each week to our 6 branches and partner charities this is an opportunity to be seen all over the North Devon and Torridge area, delivering change for real people in crisis.


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