Eastbourne Foodbank reaches out to help prevent families reaching financial crisis

Parents across Eastbourne will have received an Eastbourne Foodbank leaflet in their child’s book bag or rucksack before the schools broke up for the summer holidays. The leaflet signposts to local support agencies and organisations in the town that can provide long-term sustainable measures to ease the strain of the cost of living crisis and prevent people from having to resort to emergency food parcels donated by the public.

Eastbourne Foodbank has worked with 24 schools in total. Primary, secondary and special schools have all been involved in the community work and more than 10,000 leaflets have been distributed to families via schools.

The charity’s campaigns and communications manager Jess Holliday said: “We are very keen to work with our partners in the community to signpost families to support services before they reach crisis point.

“We know the schools in Eastbourne do a brilliant job in supporting families and we would like to thank them for their support with this work. We are delighted to be working collaboratively. Together, we can make a difference.

“No one wants to visit a foodbank and this work with schools is about preventing people from having to do so.

“It is about highlighting the other support locally, so that people can find long-term solutions. Food banks are a last resort and only provide a short-term fix. Our work is all about lifting people up and out of needing food parcels.”

The foodbank worked in partnership with Eastbourne business Fieldskill to get the information out to the schools.

A Fieldskill spokesperson said: “Fieldskill is committed to giving back to the local community that has supported us so much. We recently donated cardboard boxes to the foodbank, a vital resource for many families in our area.

“We are proud to have contributed to this important project and we are committed to finding other ways to give back to our community in the future.”

Earlier this month shoppers in Eastbourne donated more than two tonnes of items as part of a collection organised by Eastbourne Foodbank.

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