About
About our foodbank
Doncaster Foodbank has been open since September 2013 and provides free, short term, emergency, non-perishable food parcels for people identified as experiencing financial crisis throughout the City. Each emergency parcel provides a family or individual with a minimum of three days’ supply of nutritionally balanced food.
Food is donated by schools, churches, businesses, and individuals or through supermarket collections. Our partnerships with local food retailers enable us to provide some surplus fresh food alongside the canned and packaged foods. As well as providing emergency food, Doncaster Foodbank provides essentials like washing powder, sanitary items, pet food, baby food (Not Milk) and toiletries. For the first 9 years of operation the community fed the community as supply matched demand, however since 2022, our shopping bills have steadily risen and the food bank now also relies heavily on funding streams such as grants to buy stock in bulk, to boost the drop in food donations which has been caused by the current cost of living crisis.
Every client is referred by one of over 100 Doncaster front-line care professional agencies, such as Doncaster Council, Citizens Advice, Family hubs, School liaison officers, Probation officers, Health visitors, Housing and Mental health teams as well as social workers and other Social Prescribers. They identify people in crisis and issue them with an electronic food bank voucher code which can be exchanged at one of our three food bank centres, for an emergency food parcel.
The food parcels have been designed by dieticians to provide recipients with a nutritionally balanced diet. Specific dietary requirements and allergies are catered for, and a client’s cooking facilities are considered, for example being homeless or living in hostel accommodation.
Currently, those in need can visit us for provisions on:
Tuesdays 10am – 12 noon, St Paul’s Church
Wednesdays 10am – 12 noon, St James’ Church
Thursdays 10am – 12 noon, Rossington Community Baptist Church (Holmescarr Centre)
Fridays 10am – 12 noon, St James’ Church
Each foodbank session is run by a team of dedicated volunteers who welcome service users to our centres and offer a warm drink and a snack. They work alongside a rotation of various topical, local support agencies who can advise clients on site and at further appointments, how to handle their longer-term issues and recognise when additional help is needed. Our food bank service is designed to be an emergency food provision service and as such, it is important to put clients in touch with organisations who can help them address the underlying cause of their crisis. We partner with Citizens Advice Doncaster Borough who provide us with a generalist advisor at every session, and we are committed to facilitating support for our clients and helping them to maximise their incomes so that they can break free from the cycle of food poverty.