Sherborne Food Bank
Sherborne Food Bank was set up to collect and distribute donated food to people in need of short-term support. Over the 12 years since we started, we have seen a huge increase in local poverty with many now unable to provide fully for themselves and their families. Dorset Council figures show over 40% of households in Sherborne are low-income and struggling to meet their needs.
Working out of our Sherborne depot, our teams of volunteers, over 70 of us at the last count, collect, sort, stack and then pack food parcels designed to last four to five days. Up to seven teams of drivers then deliver to homes in Sherborne and the surrounding villages. Your donations will immediately go towards our deliveries of bread, fruit, vegetables and milk, along with other food like pasta and tinned food – for a family that’s worth at least £65. We include toiletries and baby products where we can.
We delivered to 242 families last December, shopping to supplement donations. In 2023 we delivered 2288 parcels, that’s more than 59,000 items, to a weekly average of 44 addresses – helping over 100 adults and children every week.
We also reach out in other ways, including paying for 20 school meals every day for families who are just above the free school meal threshold, paying for 10 free hot meals a week delivered by the Sherborne Lunch Club, subsidising the Vale Pantry so the people from our postcodes with transport can do a ‘social supermarket’ shop for just £7, and several other schemes helping young people who cannot afford snacks and milk at youth centres, schools and more.
www.sherbornefoodbank.org