About
How foodbanks work
Providing emergency food to people in crisis.
Every day people in the UK go hungry for reasons ranging from redundancy to receiving an unexpected bill on a low income. A simple box of food makes a big difference, with foodbanks helping prevent crime, housing loss, family breakdown and mental health problems.
Food is donated
Schools, churches, businesses and individuals donate non-perishable, in-date food to a foodbank. Large collections often take place as part of Harvest Festival celebrations and food is also collected at supermarkets.
Food is sorted and stored
Volunteers sort food to check that it’s in date and pack it into boxes ready to be given to people in need. Over 40,000 people give up their time to volunteer at foodbanks.
Professionals identify people in need
Foodbanks partner with a wide range of care professionals such as doctors, health visitors, social workers and local community organisations to identify people in crisis and they will contact the local foodbank to raise an electronic foodbank voucher. The foodbank will then contact the client requiring a food parcel and arrange an appointment time for it to be collected, this obviously require the recipient to provide a contact phone number to be used. Some foodbank partners may be prepared to collect a parcel on behalf of the client.
Clients receive food
Foodbank clients come to their local foodbank centre at the agreed time where a three days’ emergency food parcel will be ready for them to collect. Foodbank volunteers are able to provide information on agencies who may be able to solve longer-term problems. Caithness Foodbank operates basically as a collection only service although we may be able to arrange or facilitate delivery in exceptional circumstances.