Volunteering at Hope Family food bank

August 21, 2024 Christine Sanger

Christine’s blog shares her passion for volunteering and why it might just be right for you.

I joined Care City in September 2022 and absolutely love it. The work is so rewarding, and I’m proud to be part of something that gives back to our amazing communities in North East London.

However, our work also reveals the challenges some of our community members face. I recently worked on a fuel poverty project and saw firsthand the hardships people in my area were dealing with. With funding from The Cadent Foundation and support from local partners including LBBD, DABD, Turn2us, National Energy Action (NEA), Groundwork Green Doctors, Thames View Health Centre, Creative Wellness, Shed Life, Thames Life we were able to help, through running community events that provided a comprehensive support system for those facing fuel poverty and related health issues. But I felt that I wanted to do more. 

“Through being at the events, some of us realised that it’s not just us that are suffering. People came together and were more open to talking to each other”.

Event Participant

Inspired by this, I started researching volunteering opportunities in Barking and discovered the Barking Food Bank website, which listed various roles across the area. One role that stood out was for a financial inclusion triage volunteer, just three hours a week at the Hope Family Food Bank in Barking. The only challenge was that it took place on Wednesday mornings during my work hours.

Fortunately, Care City is very focused on staff development and well-being, so they supported me in adjusting my working hours to take on this opportunity.

The food bank gave me an induction, provided training for the role and offered ongoing support from the manager. Although my main job is to chat with people and see if we can direct them to welfare advice or other support, I also help out wherever needed—restocking shelves, preparing rooms, or distributing food.

The food bank not only provides emergency food through vouchers but also connects people with advice and further assistance. I feel incredibly lucky that, through my volunteering, I can help people on the front lines, while my job at Care City allows me to contribute to long-term community improvements.

So why should you consider volunteering?

  • It helps you gain confidence and provides experience of being in a work environment
  • It also gives you experience of how to deal with more difficult conversations
  • It can increase your network and more importantly help build friendships!
  • It doesn’t matter how much time you have to give you will always be helping someone
  • Giving back to your community is a great feeling and it’s infectious!

My volunteering timeline:

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