At North Paddington Food Bank, we seek to draw on the strengths of the community in order to provide an accessible service which meets the immediate needs of local people, whilst enabling them to find their route out of food poverty. NPFB’s overall aim is to no longer be needed and we are striving for a future where no-one is hungry. At NPFB, we know that food banks are not the most effective way of tackling the issues that lead people to needing food and essentials - but whilst households are going without the means to properly support themselves, we aim to meet the level of need in the area to a high standard.
Every day people in the UK go hungry for reasons ranging from redundancy to receiving an unexpected bill on a low income. In Westminster an increasing number of people have difficulties in paying for their basic needs. Other needs may take up all finances, leaving nothing for food. This is a dire situation, especially if one is supporting a family. The North Paddington Food Bank is there to help. With cash and food donations from businesses and ordinary people, the food bank provides a minimum of three days emergency food and support to people experiencing crisis in North Paddington. The North Paddington Food Bank serves wards in North Westminster these include Harrow Road, Queen’s Park, Westbourne, Church Street, Little Venice, Maida Vale, Bayswater and Lancaster Gate Wards.
North Paddington Food Bank provides support to people experiencing hardship and crisis by distributing food and essentials, whilst working alongside other organisations to help people with the issues that have led them to us. NPFB was set up in 2014 to provide emergency support to individuals and families experiencing a crisis in the local area by means of food and essentials packages. Food banks are a quick and relatively cheap way of a community responding to the immediate needs of people, and NPFB was intended to ensure that some support was available whilst other services and areas of support were being cut back. In providing this service, NPFB also sought to form part of a holistic network of what other organisations and services were still able to help address whatever issues were leading households to require the service. In doing this, NPFB has worked to better understand what has led people to need to access its services whilst developing and adapting to meet the changing needs and issues presenting themselves in the local community. By doing this, it is hoped that NPFB can communicate these needs and promote more effective ways of providing support to people who need it. From its inception, NPFB has been supported and facilitated by WECH (Walterton and Elgin community homes), who have provided financial and professional support, alongside office space and the community centre space, out of which the food bank service runs.
Our overall objective is to support all our customers on their journey to independence to the point where they no longer require our services and our services are no longer needed as no-one is hungry.
