Coronavirus Statement

Dear Friends,

As you know on the 1st April we made the difficult decision to close our Distribution Centres and move to a Doorstep Delivery service. 5 months on, we decided to re-opening our centres meaning that we can offer a more complete service.

Hunger in Epping Forest is not about food, it is about not having the money to cover the basics. Therefore food alone is not the solution to ending hunger in our district, in reopening the centres it means that we can once again spend time with our clients, offering them a warm welcome, a listening ear and signposting to other support – although we won’t be offering refreshments just yet!

To ensure the safety of our volunteers and our clients we will be enforcing the following precautions:

• Only one person will be admitted to the centre per voucher
• Masks must be worn at all times in the centre (masks will be provided to clients who do not have one)
• We will be operating a one-in-one-out system so things may take a little longer than usual. 
• Regular hand sanitising for both volunteers and clients
• 2-meter social distancing

Due to the restrictions, we will still only be accepting food donations at our new warehouse at 38c Chigwell Lane, Loughton, Essex, IG10 3NY or at various supermarkets, locations of which can be found here.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Hannah Henley

Project Manager
Epping Forest Foodbank

14/09/2020

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Dear friends,

Since moving over to making door-step deliveries from 1st April 2020, Epping Forest Foodbank has seen a surge in the month’s demand compared to previous years.

Those requiring food still need to access a front line professional agency for support, advice and a referral and that agency contact will then advise the household about the delivery service.

We are pleased to be receiving referrals via the National Citizen’s Advice Helpline who can be reached on 0808 208 2138.

As for donations, please continue to check the website under Give Help > Donate Food for the most up to date list of items required. We have plenty of Baked beans, pasta and pasta sauce.

Donations will be accepted at Unit-D8, Seedbed Centre, Langston Road, Loughton, IG10 3TQ on Wednesdays and Fridays 10am-12noon only.

Thank you for your support and sharing this message across the District.

Heather Scholer

Project Manager
Epping Forest Foodbank

11/05/2020

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Dear friends,

The safety and health of our volunteers and clients are of paramount importance. Whilst the listening, signposting and praying for clients that usually happens at our Foodbank centres is absolutely at the heart of our operation, during this unprecedented time of National Emergency due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus, the trustees and operations team of Epping Forest Foodbank believe that it is in everyone’s best interest to move towards a pre-packed doorstep delivery service. This will mean there are fewer opportunities for social interaction and will, therefore, reduce the spread of infection.

This week, we will move towards deliveries. The last distribution centre will be open from the Hope Centre at St Mary’s Church, Loughton on Wednesday 1st April between 10am and 12noon to redeem red referral vouchers.

Epping Forest Foodbank is still here to provide food for those who are struggling to afford food via a doorstep delivery service.

Those requiring food still need to access a frontline professional agency for support, advice and a referral who will then advise about the delivery service.

Thank you for your support and sharing this message across the District.

Heather Scholer

Project Manager
Epping Forest Foodbank

31/03/2020

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Dear friends,

At this time of uncertainty surrounding the outbreak of Coronavirus in the UK, we wanted to reassure you that we are still going to be supporting people with emergency food but we are running a reduced service due to measures put in place to slow the spread of infection.

For the time being, our distribution centres will open as usual with the following changes to our usual service:

At the Distribution centre:

• We will be asking everyone to sanitise or wash their hands on entry.
• We will be giving out pre-packed food parcels.
• We will be asking clients to leave as soon as they have received their food.
• We will be limiting the amount of face-to-face contact to 15 minutes and not be offering tea, coffee or other refreshments to our clients.
• We will ask anyone without a voucher not to enter the Distribution Centre but signpost them to the most appropriate frontline professional to support them further.

Donations of emergency supplies:

• We will only be accepting food donations into the warehouse (Unit-D8 Seedbed Centre, Langston Road) Wednesdays and Fridays 10am -12noon.

It’s hard for us to say how things will unfold in the coming weeks, but we will continue to provide help wherever possible and if anything changes, we’ll let you know immediately.

Your support is vital, and we would like to reassure you that we do NOT currently have a food shortage. We are managing our stock levels to ensure that every client has enough food. Whilst we have not run out of donations we still rely on food coming in to continue the service we offer, as such, if you are considering donating to EFFB please check our list of most needed items beforehand. You can also find our list of places to donate here.

We would also welcome financial giving, this allows us to ensure that we can continue supporting people in Epping Forest throughout this period of uncertainty for however long is possible. You can donate online here.

As a community, you have shown such support for us and the people we serve since we opened, and we urge you to continue to do so in light of this crisis.

We thank you for your ongoing support.

Heather Scholer

Project Manager
Epping Forest Foodbank

18/03/2020

You can find out more about the Trussell Trust network’s response to coronavirus here and you can follow us on Twitter @EppingForestFB or on Facebook /EppingForestFoodbank to stay up to date.

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