An overview of the last 12 months

Steve Clay, Cambridge City Foodbank CEO

The last 12 months have proven to be a difficult time for our Foodbank. This year, we’re approaching 18,000 three-day emergency food parcels provided to our visitors – a figure that feels difficult to acknowledge. The increase in need for our support is continuing to grow month on month which has been the case since I joined as CEO almost two years ago.

As an organisation, we are apolitical. However, with the recent general election, it was difficult to not be quietly optimistic by the potential of change and a vision on how we can fix the issues in this country that lead to people facing food insecurity.

We’re pleased that the current government has made policy changes to make a positive impact on the lives of those facing poverty – such as the increase in minimum wage and reduction in the level of debt repayments taken from those on social security – but these are just starting points. The government must continue to pass positive legislation to ensure that as a society, we’re free of food bank use and food insecurity.

Locally, we’re pleased that Cambridge City Council supported our motion calling for an Essentials Guarantee, agreeing with our calls that those facing food insecurity need to be given adequate support. However, we want this to become larger than a local development. We want to work with MPs on the issue, and push it to the highest forms of government to show the key decision-makers that more changes in policy are needed.

In acknowledging that more support is needed for those in a difficult financial position, we set up our Financial Inclusion Project, in collaboration with Cambridge Citizens’ Advice, which is now well into its second year. We’ve seen a ten-fold return on our investment in this project, which has helped people across Cambridge get access to the support they need. We’ve seen hundreds of thousands of pounds released to people in Cambridge, which in itself has meant that at least a quarter of those receiving this support no longer need our services because of the lifeline they’ve been given.

This year also saw the expansion of our Fairbite Food Clubs – the social supermarkets across Cambridge. At the start of the year we had just two, but now we have five. This growth has been a key part of our strategy in offering different types of support to those in need, and in the long-term, we plan to have a network of Fairbite Food Clubs alongside our Foodbank Welcome Centres.

However, none of this work would have been possible without our volunteers. They’re the lifeblood of our organisation. While we have a small staff team that organises and coordinates the work we do, without our volunteers on the ground who work tirelessly to make sure that food flows in and out of our warehouse and on to the people who need it most, we and the support we offer would simply not exist. To understand how we as an organisation can make their experience a better one, we held a number of discussions to help us understand what we do well and what we could improve. We’re pleased with the outcome of these discussions, and are currently looking at appointing our very first Volunteer Development Coordinator, who will implement the changes our volunteers want to see.

As we look into 2025, it would be gross overstatement to paint a picture of positivity, because there is simply so much work to do. But everything starts with a desire to change. We’re striving towards a future that is without food insecurity, and we continue to highlight that food banks are not something that we should accept in our society.

Finally, I would just like to say thank you to our volunteers. Thank you for your hard work, your resilience and your dedication over the 12 months. The cost of living has drastically increased the level of need for our support, and amid that increase, you have all done more than required to ensure that we support our Welcome Centre visitors and Fairbite members.

We look forward to working with you again in 2025 to secure the changes our visitors and members need, and working towards our goal of ending the need for food banks.