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An army of volunteers are bringing hope and dignity to families locked in poverty. Jane Common meets the food bank heroes making a difference

Comfort food

The sweet treats are a welcome surprise for children, as volunteer Sandi Webb, 66, well knows. “You see the mothers’ grateful eyes because they have something to give the children on Christmas morning,” she says. “We keep the chocolate out back and whisper to the mums, ‘Shall we quietly slip the chocolate in the bag so the kids don’t see it yet?’’’ About 90 per cent of the food bank’s stock comes from public donations, dropped into collection baskets in supermarkets. Today, however, a church has donated fresh fruit and vegetables, now laid out on trestle tables in the hall – and the chatter over boxes of carrots, potatoes and tomatoes gives the food bank a cheerful village shop feel. People leave with their food in branded supermarket carrier bags so they walk home looking for all the world as if they have done a big supermarket shop. It is the Trussell Trust credo – treating people with dignity – in action. Sandi is a retired palliative care doctor and here, as in her career, she witnesses the resilience of the human spirit. “You see single mums making the best of what they’ve got, fighting hard,” she says. “And older people who’ve fallen on hard times – through illness perhaps – trying to pick themselves up. “Often it looks like there’s no way out for people, but I’ll be at the supermarket, collecting donations, and someone will put something in the trolley and say, ‘I’ve used your food bank before and I’m back on my feet now. Thank you.’”

‘The only thing one mother had in the cupboard was a Weetabix each for her two children’

Raising the bar Volunteers John and Clare at the food bank, below

Photography: Brunel Johnson/Studio PI for Bridge Studio

“I met a person with cancer, in the middle of chemotherapy treatment, and here she was, at a food bank. She was living on sick pay, and had lost her house because she couldn’t pay the mortgage. Another lady recently had to make the choice between buying shoes for her daughter or food. Men cry because they can’t provide for their families. So we’re compassionate. After all, this could happen to any of us.” People obtain vouchers, entitling them to parcels containing enough food for three days from a range of sources, including health visitors, social services and churches. As well as providing emergency food to people in crisis, the Trussell Trust offers vital practical support and financial advice – and campaigns for change to end the need for food banks. When people arrive at the food bank, a volunteer greets them and sits down to have a chat over a cup of tea about their situation, if they have any special dietary requirements, and what their cooking facilities are. (One person tells me he had slept in his car for a fortnight and only had access to a kettle. “Good thing I like noodles,” he smiles wryly.) People’s information is passed to John, a retired IT consultant, who packs the food parcels in the stockroom, while visitors sit at one of the tables dotted around the church hall, and chat with another volunteer who can suggest organisations to help with, for example, debt problems and mental health issues. “People often get emotional so we have large boxes of tissues,” says Clare Williams, 57, a food bank volunteer for seven years. She was a Norland nanny in her twenties. “My first job was in a country manor house,” Clare recalls, “so it was very different to working in a food bank.” “Did any of your families have cooks?” I ask. “One did,” Clare nods. Such luxury contrasts starkly with the experience of the mothers arriving to use the food bank at 3.30pm, having picked up their kids from school. “A mother came in recently and all she’d had left in the cupboard that morning was two Weetabix – one for each of her children,” Clare says. “The kids asked, ‘Mummy, why aren’t you having any?’ and she said she wasn’t hungry. As a volunteer, listening to people’s stories is humbling.” And it’s for the sake of such families that Cadbury, for the second year in a row, has partnered with the Trussell Trust on its Secret Santa campaign, to offer some magic to people who need it most. For every anonymous gift of chocolate sent to a loved one via the Cadbury Secret Santa Postal Service, the company will donate a second bar to a food bank in the Trussell Trust network.

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Yet just outside the city’s Roman walls, a five-minute stroll through Georgian streets from the cathedral, a food bank (one of over 1,300 centres supported by the Trussell Trust) operates three afternoons a week in a church hall. “There’s been a 96 per cent rise in people using our services over the pandemic,” reveals Joanne Kondabeka, who founded Chichester District Foodbank in 2012 and is now its CEO. “In the last six months we’ve fed 3,200 people. And 58 per cent of people who used us last year were working. It’s hard out here. The food bank is people’s last resort – most are ashamed of coming here. But they are desperate.

Sweet charity Volunteers talk shop

On the front line Joanne Kondabeka, CEO of Chichester District Foodbank, above

eafy Chichester, with its 900-year-old cathedral, symphony orchestra and annual arts festival, isn’t a place one would think needs a food bank.

Be a Secret Santa to your friends and loved ones. Find out how to get involved at secretsanta.cadbury.co.uk

Illustration: Harriet Noble/Studio PI for Bridge Studio

Back to the table The Trussell Trust helps people to rebuild their lives, says Sandi Webb

Reaching out Clare Williams has been a volunteer for seven years

Making a difference Chichester District Foodbank has fed more than 3,000 people in six months

Be a Secret Santa to your friends and loved ones. Find out how to get involved at secretsanta.cadbury.co.uk

Cadbury has run its Secret Santa campaign since 2018, and it returns this month. The confectioner believes that gestures don’t have to be grand to be heartwarming, and gifts are better given without the need for thanks. Last year, Cadbury partnered with the Trussell Trust, donating a bar of chocolate to a food bank in the Trussell Trust network for every Secret Santa gift sent anonymously to a loved one via Cadbury Secret Santa. This year, the partnership returns to help make Christmas special for everyone. It also aims to shine a spotlight on the incredible work done by the Trussell Trust network and the charity’s mission to ensure everyone can afford the essentials.

How to share the magic