From crisis support to lasting change - and how you're making it possible

Built for moments of crisis 

Over fifteen years ago, Cambridge City Foodbank was built for those moments in people’s lives when everything begins to unravel all at once. We were created to provide fundamental support to people facing crisis.  

A broken boiler.
A failed MOT.
An unexpected bill landing on the doormat.

Sudden financial shocks like these can take a family from just about managing to being unable to cover basic living costs.
At moments like these, after having exhausted other options, people turn to us for support.

In the past, Cambridge City Foodbank was focused on providing a few days of emergency food through our Foodbank Welcome Centres (see light green box at bottom of page), meeting people’s basic needs to enable them to face these challenges and get back on their feet.

Most people would come once or twice, then we wouldn’t see them again. Our emergency system worked exactly as it was designed to.

The quiet shift we couldn’t ignore

But over time, something began to change.

Around five years ago, we began to notice that many of the people walking through our doors were no longer there because of a sudden financial shock. They were there because the ground beneath them had become permanently unstable, and they needed the Foodbank as a means to survive.

Instead of coming once in a moment of financial instability, people began to need our support more regularly.

What may have begun as a crisis evolved into an ongoing need – and for many, there was simply nowhere else to turn. For people facing empty cupboards and the uncertainty of where their next meal would come from, our emergency food parcels became the only way they could ensure their basic needs were met.

Meeting both urgent and ongoing need in our community

Given my background as a GP, I often use the analogy of A&E and long-term healthcare to explain how our Foodbank Welcome Centres and Fairbite Food Clubs serve different needs.

In many ways, traditional food banks (including our 8 Foodbank Welcome Centres) are like A&E – existing for urgent moments, when people need emergency support. Our Foodbank Welcome Centres are vital pillars of support in our community.

But what happens when people arrive at A&E not with a broken bone, but with a persistent condition that needs addressing?
This is when specific, longer-term support is needed.

Our Fairbite Food Clubs (see dark green box at bottom of page) aim to support people facing longer-term challenges – such as unemployment, ongoing health problems, and a continuing financial struggle to cover their basic needs – with a view to tackling these challenges, and helping them to move forward.

Our Fairbite Food Clubs

Our Fairbite Food Clubs offer a different kind of response, for a different kind of need.

Our members can shop weekly. For £5, they receive around £25 worth of food and household essentials. Members shop at the same time each week, share a cup of tea, and build relationships with volunteers and one another. That consistency matters. It removes some of the constant anxiety of “Will I manage this week?”

But food alone is never the whole answer, particularly when the need is ongoing. What sits alongside it is just as important.

This setting also allows us to provide:
•    advice to help people access the income they’re entitled to
•    connections to local services
•    and something harder to measure, but deeply felt: community

Why your support matters

Across these additional six sites in Cambridge, around 400 households are now part of our network of Fairbite Food Clubs. We aim to provide these families and individuals with the time, space and support they need to get back on their feet.

By separating emergency support from longer-term support, we are doing all that we can to help people get the right help at the right time. Crisis support remains integral, and for those facing continuing challenges, there is now a pathway that doesn’t rely on repeated emergency aid.

Your support gives us this ability to think beyond the immediate. It allows us to both meet people in crisis, and to walk alongside them as they overcome the challenges they face.

For many, it means the first week in months where they can plan ahead rather than simply get through the day.

This is an extraordinary gift.

From all of us at Cambridge City Foodbank - thank you.