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May Update Purley Food Hub

Dear All,

Busy May takes 2025’s meals so far to 16,500

May was the Food Hub’s busiest month since last summer. During the month we provided food for 445 people, which at three meals a day for three days for each person, was equivalent to 4,000 meals.

On each of the last three Saturdays of the month, our hardworking teams packed and delivered food parcels for 70 or more adults and children.

And even on the less busy Wednesdays, with food provided for up to nearly 40 people, it gave the teams time to kindly replenish the shelves ahead of the Saturday sessions. They included the packing team of 21st May: (left to right) Mandy, Lesley, Nicola and Carolyn.

May’s meals total was higher even than last December, always traditionally our busiest month of the year. It means that so far in 2025 we have been able to provide 16,500 meals for 1,840 clients and family members.

Which is only possible of course through the amazing practical help of our volunteer sorters, packers and drivers…and the very generous donations of our supporters.

These donations have enabled us to continue to support the Food Stops at Old Lodge Lane Baptist Church, Purley, and St Francis Church, Monks Hill, Selsdon, where many of our clients go to receive further food support after receiving their emergency food parcels from us.

We have to report, however, that at this time we are experiencing a reduction in food donations…which meant, sadly, we didn’t have the spare stock to respond to a request for food help from our third local Food Stop at Fieldway Family Centre, New Addington.

And yet, what we could do was to make them an extra donation of £440 towards the up to £500 a week they are spending to restock the Food Stop which “is growing more challenging as the demand for services continue to grow,” says Julia Weller, the Family Centre’s Chief Executive Officer. She told us:

The cost of living crisis is hitting everybody so hard, we completely understand that you do not get enough food donations presently to give to Food Stop Fieldway but we appreciate that if you were to get a sudden influx that we will be kept in mind.

The generous one-off donation of an additional £440 is fantastic news. Thank you so much. The work you do and the support you give is truly a blessing.

Meanwhile, Rev’d Fiona Weaver and her fellow Food Hub Trustees are continuing their visits to Fieldway and the other food partners we support financially in order to review the support and consider a possible increase from July.

Also in May:

A grateful client gave the Food Hub a five-star rating online after receiving her food delivery on Saturday 17th. She posted: “Thank you so much - [I am] fully stocked up. You brought me to tears with your generosity and compassion. Really appreciate your help xx”
New volunteer Poonam had her packer’s “taster” session on Wednesday 28th. Welcome on board, Poonam.
When volunteers Betty and Trevor grew more than enough tomato plants at home, they took the surplus to church (Christ Church, Purley) one Sunday morning to offer them to people for a donation…and raised an a-peeling £15 for the Food Hub!

Pasta sauce, tinned meat & baked beans top June list

Our current stock shortages are reflected in June's list of items we most need at this time.

Heading the Top 10 most-wanted list are small bottles of pasta sauce, tinned corned beef, chicken and ham, and tins/plastic snap pots of baked beans.

Toddler microwave meals for 10 months and 12 months-plus, small 500g packets of sugar, and tinned tomatoes are also required, along with packets of custard requiring only hot water and tinned rice pudding. Completing this month’s list are small bottles of shampoo and kitchen scourers.

Click here to view the list in full. If you would like to have the list and our monthly newsletter sent directly to your inbox at the beginning of each month, please email steve.purleyfoodhub@gmail.com.

Donations can be brought to us at Purley United Reformed Church (next to Purley Hospital) any Monday, Wednesday or Saturday morning between 9.00am – 12.00midday. Or you can take them to one of our local in-store and roadside collection points listed here.

We are most grateful for everyone’s continued kind support. Your donations over the past 12 years mean we have been able to provide food for more than 43,500 local people going through hard times.

At three meals a day for three days for each client and family member, it’s equivalent to nearly 395,000 meals.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EVERY TIN, JAR, PACKET AND POUND – WE GREATLY APPRECIATE EACH AND EVERY ONE.

Salli becomes our new Administrator

Salli Ransom is the Food Hub’s new Administrator, taking over from Jean Ludlowwho stepped down from the role in April.

Announcing the news, Trevor Jones, Chair of Trustees, said:

We are very grateful to Jean for her faithful service for the last six years and the Management Committee will be arranging a suitable farewell and thank you for her.

Salli, who has been standing in for Jean for holidays and hospital visits, has agreed to take over the role for the foreseeable future. The Management Committee and Trustees are delighted she is stepping into the Administrator’s role and is welcomed on to the Management Committee.

Salli (second right) with fellow volunteers Dawn, Bridget, Sarah, Catherine and Jemi at the Food Hub session on 24th May. In her role, Salli will process clients’ referrals from ticket partners, draw up the Wednesday and Saturday food delivery schedules and deal with the other everyday enquiries. In addition, she will continue as a regular Saturday session leader and Volunteer Co-ordinator and compile the three-monthly food distribution rotas.

Salli is married to Paul and they have three adult children, including Food Hub team leader Laura, and four grandchildren.

She very much enjoys “keeping busy” and as well as helping to look after her two youngest grandchildren, aged seven and three, and all of her Food Hub duties, she looks after IT for Addington Residents’ Association, and after working at Royal Russell School for 30 years, still enjoys singing with their Choral Society with Food Hub volunteer Corinne.

The boys from 9M still grinning like Cheshire cats!

Fresh from earning £1,000 for the Food Hub from their winning presentation in First Give’s social action programme at The John Fisher School, Purley, boys from Form 9M (pictured right) visited the Food Hub in May to find out more about how we operate.

And, as an icing on the cake, they brought with them several very welcome trays of food donations.

The photo below shows George, Jhavanhi, Tyler, Ethan and James making their presentation to the First Give panel.

Form tutor Yvonne Winkelman who brought the boys to the Food Hub in the school minibus on Friday 16th May, said afterwards: ”They were so proud they won the £1,000 for the Food Hub, they were grinning like Cheshire cats!”

The boys themselves added:
We are delighted to have worked with such an inspirational charity as the Food Hub. On the presentation day, we competed against five other forms, and after a long deliberation by the judges, we were thrilled to hear that we had achieved our goal and won, through our hard work and perseverance (our House value).

We aim to raise more for your charity in the future, and so pleased we have managed to raise/win a total of £1,800 to date.

‘Guarantee Essentials’ lobby of MPs on 18th June

A final reminder of the mass lobby taking place in Westminster on Wednesday 18th June in support of the Guarantee our Essentials campaign to increase Universal Credit to cover complaints’ cost of essentials.

The lobby is being organised by IFAN (Independent Food Aid Network) with the Trussell Trust, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Feeding Britain and the Salvation Army.

It involves a mass gathering of people representing food banks and other community food organisations from across the UK who will meet their local MPs (including Croydon South’s Chris Philp) to discuss the inadequacy of Universal Credit.

“It’s critical that MPs hear from as many voices as possible from the frontline about the urgent changes needed to ensure Universal Credit can protect us all from poverty and this collective action can make a real difference,” says IFAN’s director, Sabine Goodwin.

Please sign up via this Eventbrite link (hosted by Trussell and involving a two-step process) or contact Sabine directly to discuss how you can be involved at
sabine@foodaidnetwork.org.uk.

Meanwhile, in an article in The Big Issue newspaper Sabine says that ending the need for food banks looks more like a pipe dream than any kind of realistic goal. She writes:

There’s much more beneath the surface of the generosity of a legion of food aid volunteers working within a labyrinth of community food organisations. Just as relentless demand on food banks pushes some to the point of closure, burnt-out volunteers are considering the impact of being “exploited” by a succession of governments refusing to take responsibility for its citizens’ basic needs.

Volunteers’ Herculean efforts may demonstrate plentiful solidarity, community spirit and neighbourliness, but a moral line has been crossed. Twenty years ago, volunteering in a local community looked very different. People spent their valuable spare time helping their neighbours, but, with barely a food bank in sight, they weren’t having to provide sustenance to keep people alive.

Nor were volunteers trying to give emotional and practical support to prevent people from being pushed over the edge by poverty. Community volunteering within the UK’s chaotic charitable food aid sector is nothing short of running a fourth emergency service.

Donations received in May

The food donations we receive come in all forms, sizes and quantities - and, similarly, money donations come in all amounts. The most common of these is a £10 note slipped inside an envelope, often with no identification of the donor.

Occasionally some larger money donations are received by bank transfer direct to the Food Hub’s account - and one of these came in May. Our treasurer, Joanna Walker, logged on to make some payments and noticed an unexpected donation of £2,000 from a first-time supporter, Wendy, with her email address.

We wrote to Wendy to thank her and asked if she could perhaps give us a couple of sentences about how she had so kindly come to support the Food Hub. She wrote back:

I heard about Purley Food Hub during a visit to All Saints Church, Kenley, over Christmas. I decided to make the Food Hub the recipient of a donation at the end of Lent.

I had a particular word I wanted to give up. With each specific use of that word during Lent, I promised myself I would donate to the Food Hub. Each time I said the word, I made a tally. I arrived at the end of Lent with a reasonable sized donation to the Food Hub.

And in addition to helping to do good, I have also reduced my use of that word overall, even after Lent finished!

During May, recorded donations of food, toiletries, household essentials and money included from among others:

Croydon Gurdwara
Gentle Dental Care, South Croydon
Hill House Care Home, Kenley
Infohealth Pharmacies, Coulsdon
Walter & Mair estate agents, Coulsdon

COLLECTION POINTS/YELLOW BINS
Cumberlands, Kenley
East Coulsdon Residents’ Association (Mead Way)
Heathhurst Road, Sanderstead
Riddlesdown Avenue, Purley
Selsdon Road, South Croydon

CHURCHES
All Saints, Kenley
All Saints, Sanderstead
Christ Church, Purley
Coulsdon Methodist
Coulsdon Temple
Croham Road Baptist, South Croydon
Grace Vineyard, Purley
Purley Baptist
Purley United Reformed
Sanderstead Evangelical
Sanderstead Methodist
Sanderstead United Reformed
St Gertrude’s, South Croydon
St James, Riddlesdown
St John the Baptist, Purley
St John’s, Old Coulsdon

St Margaret of Scotland, Carshalton Beeches
St Mark’s, Woodcote
St Mary’s, Old Coulsdon
St Mary’s, SandersteadSt Swithun’s, Purley
Woodmansterne Baptist

INDIVIDUALS/FAMILIES
Annie
Betty & Trevor
Corinne
Dilip
Glorie & Edwin
Jordan
Martin & Eleanor
Nalyni & Saieshwar
Oliver
Ravi
Sandy
Stephen
Thomas
Wendy

SCHOOLS
Atwood Primary, Sanderstead
Form 9M, The John Fisher School, Purley

STORES
Morrisons, Caterham
Morrisons, Fiveways, Croydon
Sainsbury’s Local, Purley
Sainsbury’s, Warlingham
Waitrose, Sanderstead

In addition, there were unrecorded donations from other supporters who preferred to stay anonymous.

THANK YOU ALL FOR EVERY SINGLE DONATION - SMALL AND BIG ALIKE.

Stay in touch through our social media and website

Updated news about the Food Hub is regularly posted on Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube and on our website at purleyfoodhub.net.

AND FINALLY…

Please continue to join us in thanking God for his love and provision, for the food and resources for those who need them. In addition, please keep in your thoughts and prayers:

Our clients and their families struggling with food insecurity, asking for strength, comfort and a sense of hope in the face of difficult circumstances.
The Food Hub itself, seeking increased donations, sufficient volunteers and an efficient operation to meet the needs of the community.
Our volunteers, asking for continued drive and strength to serve the needs of others.
The wider community, encouraging a spirit of concern, compassion and generosity towards those in need.

We pray that the day may come, sooner than later, that everyone will have enough money in their purse and pocket to buy the food they need…and the Food Hub and food banks across the UK can finally close.

As always with our sincere thanks and best wishes,

Steve Hunt

Steve Hunt - Admin Support
Purley Food Hub
Email: steve.purleyfoodhub@gmail.com
Website: www.purleyfoodhub.net