Purley Food Hub - a food bank to help people in crisis in our community.

WELCOME TO OUR WEBSITE.

We are a local independent food bank set up by Purley & Kenley Churches Together.

 

How can I help?

If you are looking for a way to serve people in need in the local area, this is a great opportunity. We are an organisation run by volunteers from the local churches and community and would love for you to be involved.

 

How can I get help?

A time of crisis can happen to anyone, at any time. Should you be in need of help yourself, we are here to support you and your family - and we will continue to be here for as long as we are needed.

 

LATEST NEWS

 

Sat 01/12/18

Milk, fruit juice and potatoes are needed most in December - along with

Christmas biscuits and chocolate treats for children

For the 9th month this year we passed 2,000 meals provided in a month in November - that's more than 27,000 meals this year so far and more than 130,000 in total since we started nearly 6 years ago. To keep our stocks replenished for December, traditionally our busiest month of the year, our December food list includes requests for cartons of long life whole milk and fruit juice, tins of potatoes or packets of dried potato, jars of fish paste, Christmas biscuits and chocolate treats for children. Also needed at this time are adult toothpaste, toilet rolls and tin openers. Thank you so much for your support.

 

Fri 02/11/18

Tinned meat, potatoes, honey and long life milk head November's food list

As we seek to maintain our food stocks in the busy run-up to Christmas, tins and packets of potatoes/dried potato, tinned chicken, ham & corned beef, jars of peanut butter & honey, and cartons of long life whole milk head the Food Hub's list of items needed most for our clients in November. Other non-food items required are size 6 nappies, washing up liquid and tin openers. Please click here for the full list and where donations can be taken. Thank you very much.

 

Thu 01/11/18

Churches and 30 schools lead the response to our appeal for extra donations

Two months ago we were concerned because our food stocks had never been so low and we issued an urgent appeal for extra donations to replenish our shelves. Since then we have had a magnificent Harvest-time response with large donations from churches and schools, businesses and organisations, families and individuals. We give enormous thanks for each and every donation received - as well as to our Food Hub volunteers: the Monday sorters and Tuesday shelf-fillers and the team of driver collectors/deliverers.

In total, 30 schools gave us food from their Harvest collections:

PRIMARY - Atwood Academy, Beaumont, Cumnor House Girls, Foresters, Gresham, Harris Academy Kenley, Heathfield Academy, Kenley, Keston, Laleham Lea, Margaret Roper Catholic, New Valley, Oakwood, Oasis Academy Byron, Park Hill Junior, Purley Oaks, Regina Coeli Catholic, Royal Russell Junior, South Norwood, St David's, St John's CofE, St Nicholas, St Peter's, The Hayes, Warlingham Park.

SECONDARY - The John Fisher,  Oasis Academy Coulsdon, St Giles, Wilson's, Woldingham.

THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!

 

Thu 18/10/18

Ticket partners give presentations at the Food Hub's AGM

Four of the Food Hub's ticket partners gave well-received presentations at our AGM on Tuesday 16th October at Purley United Reformed Church: Sonia Meikle from Croydon Council's Welfare Rights Team, Claire South of the Family Resilience Service, Inez Claus from Evolve Housing + Support and Peter Hall from Croydon Refugee Day Centre. Fifty volunteers, friends and supporters attended the meeting and also heard from Dave Scott, our Client Support Volunteer/Befriender, and accounts of the Food Hub's work from Ivanka Lennon, Chair of Trustees, and Helen Harris, Chair of the Management Committee. Nick Pannell and Trevor Jones were appointed new Trustees, with Jim Beacom and John Stradling standing down. Please click here to see our 2017/2018 Annual Report.

 

Mon 01/10/18

Peanut butter, sugar, potatoes and tinned meat meals needed most in October

Huge thanks from everyone at Purley Food Hub for the superb response from local churches, schools, community organisations and families and individuals to September's urgent appeal for extra donations to address our worryingly low food stocks. We are very grateful! We still need to maintain and build up our stocks this autumn in the lead-up to Christmas - for example, our busiest ever August was followed in turn by our busiest ever September, with food for very nearly 3,000 meals provided - our fourth highest monthly total since we opened in 2013.

Our October food list includes requests for peanut butter, sugar, tinned/packet potato, tinned meat meals and tinned carrots and peas. Non food items that we especially need are children's toothbrushes, washing up liquid and unisex deodorant. Thank you again for your support.

 

Mon 17/09/18

Waitrose Sanderstead shoppers donate 12 trolleyloads of food and £124.65

Generous shoppers at Waitrose Sanderstead donated 12 trolleyloads of food, toiletries and household items in our latest collection at the store on Saturday 15th September, plus 124.65 in our collecting bottles. Every item collected will go to local families and individuals experiencing hard times, referred to us by agencies throughout Croydon. Our next supermarket collection is at Waitrose Coulsdon on Saturday 17th November, then it's back to Waitrose Sanderstead for our Christmas collection on Saturday 8th December (both 9am - 6pm).

 

Sat 01/09/18

URGENT APPEAL for extra donations of milk, sugar, jam and ready meat meals

After our busiest ever August with 2,300 meals provided to people in crisis - and close to 20,000 meals this year so far - our food stocks have never been as low as they are currently. So, as we move into autumn and the build-up to Christmas, we are in urgent need of extra donations of food and toiletries...

Specifically on our September food list we are asking please for long life whole milk, small bags of sugar, strawberry and raspberry jam, tinned ready meat meals, tins of red kidney beans, jars of pasta sauce and packet soup. The list also includes small packs of tea bags, tinned dessert and rice pudding, packets of sweet biscuits and small bottles of squash. Non food items especially needed are washing up liquid and non bio washing tablets/sachets.

Thank you so much - we greatly appreciate and value everyone's support.

 

Fri 03/08/18

Long life milk, sugar, fish paste and tinned meat top August's most wanted list

With over 17,500 meals provided so far this year to families and single people going through tough times, our food stocks are becoming concerningly low - therefore we are requesting extra help please to refill our shelves in August. We especially need more donations of long life whole milk, 500g bags of sugar, jars of fish and meat paste, and tinned plain meat: chicken, corned beef, ham. Also on our August food list are tins of of tuna, packs of 40 or 80 tea bags, chocolate treats for children, and sweet and savoury biscuits. Non food items particularly needed are non bio washing tablets/sachets, disposable razors, and adults' toothbrushes. Thank you very much as always.

 

Thu 21/06/18

We are so grateful for all the many donations we receive

We are extremely grateful for all the donations of food, toiletries and money that we regularly receive from local churches, schools, uniformed organisations, Rotary and WI, and businesses, as well as from many mostly anonymous families and individuals. Recent donations have included from:

  • 29th Purley Beavers
  • 1st Purley Beavers
  • Sutton BNI
  • Residents of Reynard Court, Purley
  • Churches: St Peter's, South Croydon; Woodmansterne Baptist; Croham Road Baptist, South Croydon; St John's, Old Coulsdon; St Andrew's, Coulsdon; St Antony's, Hamsey Green; and St Mary Magdalene with St Martin, Addiscombe.

Thank you everyone!

 

Mon 18/06/18

Three more highly successful supermarket collections

Our monthly collections at local supermarkets are a major source of food and toiletries, etc, for clients of the Food Hub, so big thanks to the customers, staff and management at these three stores following recent collections there:

  • Waitrose Sanderstead on 16th June - 11 trolleyloads of food, etc, plus £121.72 cash
  • Co-op Hamsey Green on 19th May - 30-plus bags plus £95.00
  • Waitrose Coulsdon on Saturday 21st April - 10 trolleyloads plus £109.99

Our next collection is at Waitrose Coulsdon again on Saturday 14th July, 9.00am-6.00pm.

 

Wed 18/04/18

Beavers rise to the Great Tin Opener Challenge

The 2nd Hamsey Green Beavers rose to their Great Tin Opener Challenge and brought 30 tin openers to the Food Hub on Monday 16th April, plus 15 bags of food from St Antony's Church. To raise the money for the tin openers the Beavers, aged 6-8 years, carried out a whole range of tasks, including hoovering and doing the dishes, making the beds, feeding the cats, helping change nappies - and 'sweeping up the customers' hair in my mum's hairdressing shop'! Thank you, 2nd Hamsey Green Beavers (and St Antony's).

 

Fri 06/04/18

Thank you so much everyone for your donations of food, toiletries, money...and Easter eggs

We continue to be very thankful for each and every single donation of food, toiletries and money that we receive. Recent donations have included...

Food from these churches:

  • St John the Baptist, Purley
  • St Swithun's, Purley
  • All Saints, Kenley
  • St Aidan's Church, Coulsdon
  • Coulsdon Methodist
  • St Gertrude's, South Croydon
  • St Mary's, Sanderstead
  • Montpelier, South Croydon 

Food from:

  • The John Fisher School, Purley - Challoner House are currently leading the inter-House competition for most food collected, with Bede still to come in May...

Easter eggs (and also food) from:

  • Tesco, Purley
  • Caridon Property, Croydon
  • Croydon Jobcentre Plus
  • Friends of Grange Park, Old Coulsdon
  • 2nd Coulsdon Rainbows, 14th Coulsdon Brownies & 7th Coulsdon Guides
  • 3rd Kenley Guides

Cash donations from:

  • Woodcote High School - £303.50 from their Christmas Concert in December 2017
  • Croydon Dancing Club - £250

Toiletries each month from:

  • Infohealth Ltd who run two pharmacies in Chipstead Valley Road, Coulsdon

On behalf of all the clients and families that we serve, we are most grateful to you - and to many others also - for your generous donations.

 

Mon 26/03/18

Waitrose customers donate 18 trolleyloads of food and toiletries

Customers at Waitrose Sanderstead donated an amazing 18 trolleyloads of food and toiletries, plus £120.64, in our latest collection at the store on Saturday 17th March. Everyone was so generous on a day of extreme weather conditions: two people bought one of everything on our shopping list and someone else donated a whole trolleyful of goods. Thank you all, including our team of collectors who braved the snow, wind and cold...and the store's staff who kindly kept them supplied with hot drinks! Our next collections are at Waitrose Coulsdon on Saturday 21st April, at the Co-op Hamsey Green for the first time on 19th May and then Waitrose Sanderstead again on 16th June.

 

Wed 07/03/18

Super Swimathon team go to great lengths for Food Hub...!

Our Super Six swimmers - (left to right) Winifred, Howard, Betty, Robin, Terry and James - went to great lengths for the Food Hub in the Purley Swimathon on Thursday 1st March...in fact, a record 124 lengths! They are also likely to have raised a record £1,500 in sponsorship - £900 of which will come back to the Food Hub from Purley Rotary Club who organised the annual event. Thank you Howard and team!

 

Tue 27/02/18

Co-op Kenley's very warm response on a very cold day

A big thank-you to customers and staff at the Co-op Kenley who kindly supported our food collection at the store on Saturday 24th February. Our team collected the equivalent of three trolleyloads of food and toiletries, etc, plus £58.56 - a very warm response on a bitterly cold day! It followed another similarly successful collection at Waitrose Coulsdon on 19th January when shoppers donated eight trolleyloads of items and £125.49. Each item collected at Kenley and Coulsdon is badly needed at a time when we are providing food parcels to increasing numbers of clients and their families in crisis. Our next collections are at Waitrose Sanderstead on Saturday 17th March, Waitrose Coulsdon again on 21st April and the Co-op Hamsey Green for the first time on 19th May. 

 

Thu 08/02/18

Wren's 5th birthday treat for the Food Hub!

When Wren Graham gave out the invitations for her 5th birthday party on 3rd February, she asked her 40 young friends not to bring presents for her...but tins of food for the Food Hub. There was such a brilliant response that mum Jo and great-aunt Mary (pictured with Wren) could hardly fit everything into our store cupboard! Jo said: 'It's so lovely to see what happens when everyone comes together like this and Wren was super proud. I am just so chuffed that we had the chance to help out in a small way.' Big thanks to Jo and Wren!

 

Wed 31/01/18

January sees 70 per cent increase in meals provided compared to a year ago

Traditionally January has been a 'quieter' month at the Food Hub - but not so this year. In total this month we have provided just over 3,500 meals to people in crisis, compared to just over 2,000 meals in January 2017 - an increase of more than 70 per cent. January 2018 has become our second busiest month since we opened 5 years ago...second only to December 2017.

 

Sat 30/12/17

December is busiest ever month for Food Hub

During December we have provided 4,000 meals to nearly 450 people going through tough times - including 2,000 meals in the 3 extremely busy sessions immediately before Christmas. It is our most ever meals provided in a single month and an increase of over 30 per cent on December 2016. In addition 135 turkey-and-trimmings hampers were delivered to needy families in the borough through our Christmas Lunch On Jesus scheme, and 200 children each received 2 toys through Toys For Joy.

 

Mon 11/12/17

Waitrose's excellent support for the Food Hub!

Customers, staff and management at Waitrose's Sanderstead and Coulsdon stores have truly excelled themselves for the benefit of the clients of Purley Food Hub. On Saturday 18th November at Coulsdon our volunteers collected 9 trolleyloads of food and toiletries, etc, plus £137.94 in cash. Then last Saturday (9th December) at Sanderstead we collected 15 trolleyloads and an amazing £378.25. And in between, the Community Matters box at Sanderstead raised £360 for our Christmas Lunch On Jesus scheme to provide Christmas hampers for 135 needy families in Croydon. Thank you everyone - we are so very grateful.

 

Sat 09/12/17

We pass landmark of 100,000 meals in five years for people in crisis

Today at the Food Hub we provided our 100,000th meal since we opened five years ago. Since January 2013 1,969 clients have attended a total of 5,042 times and received food for 11,139 people. Huge thanks to the many churches, schools, businesses, organisations, families and individuals who kindly donate food - and our volunteers who sort and date-stamp it, refill our shelves and serve our clients each Wednesday and Saturday.

 

Thu 30/11/17

Donate one item a day through our Reverse Advent Calendar

Today we launch our Reverse Advent Calendar, inviting friends and supporters to put one item a day in a box or a 'bag for life' between 1st and 24th December and then bring them to the Food Hub from Tuesday 2nd January between 9am-2pm Monday-Saturday. Please click here for more details.

 

Sat 21/10/17

Bishop of Croydon is guest speaker at AGM

More than 50 volunteers, friends and supporters of Purley Food Hub attended our Annual General Meeting at Purley United Reformed Church on Tuesday 17th October. Guest speaker was the Bishop of Croydon, the Rt Rev Jonathan Clark, and there were brief presentations from Nigel Davidson of the CAP (Christians Against Poverty) Croydon South Debt Centre, Nigel Prior of Langley House Trust and Kat Hymas of Bromley & Croydon Women's Aid. Please click here to read our 2016/2017 Annual Report.

 

Fri 20/10/17

Another eight school donations take total to 21

A further eight school Harvest food donations have kindly been delivered to us yesterday and today:

  • St David's School, Purley
  • Regina Coeli Catholic Primary School, South Croydon
  • Margaret Roper Catholic Primary School, Purley
  • Beaumont Primary School, Purley
  • St Nicholas School, Purley
  • St Giles School, South Croydon
  • Oasis Academy Byron, Coulsdon
  • Oakwood School, Purley

It takes to 21 the number of school donations we have received during this first half of the autumn term - more than ever before. Thank you everyone so very much!

And thank you too to our dedicated teams of sorters and stackers who ensure that our shelves are kept filled ready for each Wednesday and Saturday session.

 

Wed 18/10/17

Grateful thanks to six more schools

We have gratefully received Harvest food from six more schools in the past few days:

  • Harris Primary Academy Kenley
  • Gilbert Scott Primary School, South Croydon
  • Kenley Primary School
  • New Valley Primary School, Purley
  • Old Palace School, Croydon - Hatton & Anselm Houses
  • Thomas More Catholic School, Purley

Again, many thanks to the students, parents and staff - your donations are making such a difference to the increasing numbers of struggling people and families coming to us for food.

 

Thu 12/10/17

'Magnificent Seven' schools donate their Harvest food

Huge thanks to the 'Magnificent Seven' schools who have given us food from their 2017 Harvest collections during the last three weeks:

  • Royal Russell Junior School, Croydon
  • Wilson's School, Wallington
  • Laleham Lea School, Purley
  • Gresham Primary School, Sanderstead
  • The Hayes Primary School, Kenley
  • Keston Primary School, Old Coulsdon
  • Cumnor House School for Girls, Purley

We are so grateful to all the pupils, their families and the staff for your very generous support.

 

Tue 10/10/17

A warm welcome to the Robin Cubs...and the Lion Cubs to come!

We were delighted to welcome the Robin Cubs from Purley Baptist Church to the Food Hub on Friday evening 6th October. They brought several carrier bags of food donations with them and during their visit helped us sort not only their own tins, jars and packets but also a big Harvest collection received from Gresham Primary School just that afternoon. Next day one of the Robins, Jessica (pictured), went to the supermarket with her mum Kirsten and, still 'buzzing' from her visit the previous evening, promptly took her own trolley, selected two of each of the items on our October food list...and paid for them herself at the checkout from her pocket money. Thank you Jessica and ALL the Robins!

Then a few days later we learned that James (pictured), one of the Lion Cubs also based at Purley Baptist Church who goes to Woodcote Primary School, had chosen the Food Hub as his charity to donate some money to. His mum Claire said: 'We looked at your list of items and went to Tesco. James chose all the products himself and wanted to add in cookies as a special treat for someone. It's not much but as parents we are proud of him for making the choice and hope it can be a little help to another family.' Thank you James - and we look forward to welcoming you and the Lion Cubs to the Food Hub in December.