“It’s not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving.”
— Mother Teresa
Top five shortages
Can you help us?
Give
Below are our regular needs, top shortages, collecting points, and special items.
If you plan to make any special donations for Christmas, please note that the deadline for these, so that we can share everything out in the best way, is Thursday, 12th December.
Also bear in mind that we have to be very strict about not distributing any alcohol, so if you’re giving Christmas puds, do check that they are the “non-alcoholic” variety.
Easy Fund Raising web site
EasyFundRaising is the UK’s biggest charity shopping site. Launched in 2005, over 2 million supporters have raised over £50 million for thousands of causes across the U.K.
You can use many major online shops and supermarkets, and when you use the EasyFundRaising site to send you there, you will generate a donation without spending any extra!
Brands pay a commission when you start your shop from the EasyFundRaising web site or "App". If you make a purchase, EasyFundRaising turns the commission into a donation. A few pence at a time, the donations mount up.
Publicise
We have updated the poster and the A5 double-sided flyer with the revised closing time on Thursdays at the Family Hub. Get the word out by displaying or giving away copies, which you can download from the Publicity page, which also has the details for donors.
New on 21st February
We added a poster for the Easy Fund Raising web site, with its connection to the Food Bank.
Financial
We are very encouraged when we receive cash donations. We use cash to buy necessary items that have not come in through collections, and we continue to support vital help like Space At The Table.
Please see below for details about monetary gifts.
Regular needs
When you go out to shop, please will you leave something in one of our collection points listed below? Take a look at our note about quantites, below, and If you are able to deliver your gift in a strong carrier bag that’s a great help, since we always need more bags to fill.
Tinned
Vegetables
Baked Beans
Meat
Fish
Rice Pudding
Fruit
Soup
Dry
Sugar (500 g)
Tea Bags (80s)
Instant Coffee
Biscuits
Cereal
Mashed Potato
Pasta (500g)
Rice (500g)
Sauces
Ragu
Pasta sauces
Milk
UHT milk
Toiletries
Toilet paper
Nappies
(Men’s and women’s)
Shower gel
Shampoo
Deodorant
Everything that we give away must be in date, so please help us by checking “use by” dates. Also, please check for any alcohol content, as we have to be scrupulous about not giving away products containing alcohol.
Gifts of money
Donations of goods don’t cover everything we aim to give. As prices increase, need increases, but we see donations at the various collecting points becoming less, while we have to buy more out of cash donations and grants, and at higher prices.
So the cash donations keep us going by supplementing the food and other goods collected. Each week we spend hundreds to buy more essentials. We can do this because of some generous grants, and cash donations from individuals, but our reserves are shrinking. If you want to make a financial donation, please fill in the contact form and our team will be in touch. Donations qualify for Gift Aid.
Where you can give
Any Time:
Adur West Family Hub (Lancing) – formerly Lancing Children & Family Centre
Lancing Parish Hall - South Street BN15 8AJ
Lancing Lions Shop - 4 Station Parade, South Street BN15 8AA
Lancing Co-op - North Road, BN15 9BA
Sompting Co-op - Test Road, BN15 0EN
Middleton Estate Agents - 23 North Road
One Stop - 5 The Parade, Cokeham Rd, Sompting
One Stop - 135-137 South Street, Lancing, BN15 88D
Other:
Harriet Johnson Centre
(Tuesdays 10:00 - 11:30)
Parish churches (https://www.chalkspringchurches.org), including St Mary’s, Sompting.
Most other churches (see our information page)
How the Food Bank works
The project is entirely funded by local people and churches.
Donations of food and certain other essential supplies can be left at any of the Drop-off points above. Volunteers sort and pack the items into bags. Each bag contains enough supplies for 3 days for a family of up to four.
We work in partnership with agencies like CAB and the Family Centre. Also we receive referrals from Social Services, Health Visitors and doctors, who identify people in crisis and refer them to the Food Bank.
Those in need of help are referred to one of our distribution points to receive a bag.
Quantities
It might seem that larger is better, especially as by buying large packs it’s possible to give more for the same cost, but there are big difficulties with “big”:
We try to provide a balanced range of essentials each week to visitors. Some have to carry them all the way home from the distribution centres, so having to carry something really heavy might mean leaving other vital items out. And we can’t open large packs to repackage the contents into more manageable sizes, because that would mean handling unpackaged food, which in turn would involve the added expense of certifying volunteers, refitting the distribution centres to make them acceptable for unpackaged food handling, complying with health regulations, and dealing with inspections.
So multi-packs that contain individually-packaged items are very welcome (like the big boxes of tea bags that contain sealed batches of forty), but huge packs of pasta, rice, or even tea bags, present us with a tough problem.