I volunteered with Bournemouth Foodbank - this is what happened

While I am fortunate to have never needed to use one, I have been hugely aware of the rising need for these charities.

Food banks should not have to exist, but Bournemouth Foodbank has seen demand skyrocket.

Some 3,400 people used the facility in the 2016/17 financial year.

But this has increased to more than 12,500 people in 2022/23, according to data collected by the charity.

I had the opportunity to volunteer at the food bank for a day to see behind the scenes and how the charity is coping.

I arrived at the food bank warehouse, in St George’s Methodist church in Boscombe, bright and early on a Monday morning.

I would be helping the warehouse team put together food parcels which then get sent out to hubs for those in need.

The first thing that struck me when I arrived was the sheer scale of the operation.

There were crates upon crates of food, piled seven high in places, from the front to the back of the church.

But I was told by warehouse manager Rebecca Payne that all that food would only last a month if donations stopped.

That was shocking and really showed the extent of current demand.

Another thing I had not thought of before I arrived was the detailed processes that each donated item goes through before it is put in a parcel.

When you donate your tin of beans to the food donation box at your local supermarket, it is collected by food bank volunteers and taken back to the warehouse.

From there, it is sorted into the relevant crate and the date is checked.

All items need to be used within a certain date and the charity needs to make sure it uses the food with the earliest dates on it first.

The food is then stored until it reaches its usage window, at which point it is moved to the crate assembly line.

This is where I came in. I was tasked with putting together food parcels for one person to last for three days.

Bournemouth Foodbank is a part of the Trussell Trust, who carry out research to draw up lists of what should go into each parcel.

Each parcel includes a range of tinned and dried food, as well as tea or coffee, milk and juice.

The Trussell Trust and the food bank try to ensure that each parcel includes natural pairs – so if a person gets pasta, they will get pasta sauce, for instance.

I was told that each parcel is designed to be a stop-gap – to last three days to help someone get back on their feet – but more and more often individuals and families are returning as they cannot cope.

I grabbed a small crate and then carried it along the shelves adding the food on each list.

Once each crate was filled, and I had made sure that it was level and could be stacked (this was harder than you’d think), each parcel was weighed and checked out.

It was important to check out the correct weight, as everything is weighed in and out so the food bank knows what its stock levels are like.

After placing the crate on the completed parcel shelf, it is then ready to be collected by one of the volunteer drivers, who delivers it to a food bank hub, where it is collected by someone who needs it.

After volunteering, I sat down with Debbie Coombes, project director, Rebecca Payne, warehouse manager and John Saborido, marketing and communications manager, to discuss the bigger picture.

There are around 200 active volunteers at Bournemouth Foodbank.

Every volunteer I worked with was very welcoming.

Volunteer Sylvia Price said everyone was always very thankful for the volunteers giving up their time.

“When I left last week, Becca was outside, she said ‘you’re all amazing’,” Sylvia said.

“It’s just things like that. They appreciate all the time that we give.”

To help the food bank check the Bank the Food app for what is most needed now.

For more information or to volunteer, visit the Bournemouth Foodbank website.