Bags of Food

Urgent Appeal 29th May 2024

The cost of living at the moment means that not only are we getting regular new referrals for food support, but also the donations that we usually get via the local community have been considerably fewer, to the point where our shelves are looking very sad. If you are able to help either by giving cupboard food or spreading awareness, we would be very grateful. Thank you so much to everyone who already generously supports the food bank.

• Squash
• Fruit Juice
• Jam
• Marmite
• Sandwich spread
• Rice Krispies*
• Cornflakes*
• Weetabix
• Meatballs
• Tinned Fruit Rice Pudding  
• Macaroni Cheese
• Casserole Mixes
• Soup
• Tinned Tomatoes*
• Tinned carrots/peas/sweetcorn
• Potatoes
• Tuna*
• Salmon
• Chocolate
• Cleaning products                         

 
‘One-off’ help for families or individuals in crisis.

Growing out of our annual Christmas Hampers project (which continues each year), this Jubilee Church scheme runs throughout the year. Foods are donated by members and friends of the church and stored until a need arises. Donations from the wider community are welcomed.

The intention is to be able to offer a bag of food for an individual or family in an unexpected situation. It may be that this is a ‘one-off’ emergency, or providing food until food bank or other support can be arranged by other community partners or agencies.

Jubilee Church’s community links may contact us to request a bag of food for one of their clients and a member of our team will get prepare the Bag of Food which can be delivered to a school, centre or direct to the family. Referrals can be made by completing our referral form below.  
Bags of Food Referral Form 

Donations of food items are welcome - there is a box situated next to the front door at the Jubilee Centre.

Foods generally needed are:                                    

• meals in tins or jars (eg pies, stews, frankfurters)
• tea, squash, juice
• long-life milk
• tuna, tomato soup, baked beans, tinned spaghetti
• vegetables (sweetcorn, peas, carrots, tomatoes)
• rice, pasta, noodles
• pasta bake and other sauces
• desserts (eg tinned fruit, rice pudding, sponges, custard, jelly, Angel Delight)
• cereals, cereal bars
• jam, biscuits

Please check the news sheet and our social media pages for up-to-date lists. Thank you!

If you'd like to know more, please contact us here or email bagsoffood@jubileechurchshepperton.org.

If you would like to make a financial donation for the bags of food programme then please Click here and go to our 'Giving page' where you can find the several ways you can support our work here at Jubilee Church.

Bags of Food and the Covid Pandemic

Since March 2020 Bags of Food has stepped up to become the 'foodbank' for Shepperton and meet the increased demands of the Covid-19 pandemic within the Shepperton community. Thank you to everyone who has donated food and money to support this vital service.

BAGS OF FOOD - ONE YEAR ON

(March 2021)
As the first national lockdown was announced last March, we were asked whether we thought that Bags of Food could look after the needs of those living in the TW17 area. Many of you will remember how we prayed hard and wondered whether we would find anywhere near enough food.

Our congregation, neighbours, the community of Shepperton including the Shepperton Lockdown Doorsteps photography project, the Rotary groups, and local businesses have provided in incredible ways so that we can announce that Bags of Food has provided food, hygiene and cleaning items, for around 83 households, about 2,500 people (and a few cats and dogs). This is an astonishing achievement!


Bags of Food get referrals from local schools, other local food banks, Social Services, Job Centres among others. Through the networks of Spelthorne Borough Council and Surrey County Council we have been further supported with PPE and the opportunity to apply for Funds. The Surrey County Council grants have enabled us to supply (with direct delivery) over 200 Food Boxes to families, especially valuable during the current lockdown with such high infection rates within the borough. This has been in addition to all those mentioned in the previous paragraph.

20 weeks in 2020

(July 2020)
Whoever thought that a quick call in March from the St Saviour’s Foodbank in Sunbury asking us if we thought we could look after Shepperton’s needs would take our small Bags of Food operation to what we are today?

The first few weeks of March were spent praying that we would get sufficient food for the families we were planning to help during the Easter holidays. Panic buying had already begun, and the maximum number of certain items any one person could purchase was limited to three. Booking on-line deliveries of food was impossible. Then schools closed well ahead of the holidays. The food that we did have for these families was quickly taken directly to the schools.

Within days local businesses were donating food and other items they would be unable to use as they had to close.

Lockdown was announced on 23 March. Ruth, with St Mary Magdalene Church in Littleton and Friends of Shepperton on Facebook organised an army of volunteers to shop, collect prescriptions and offer other help to those isolating. At the same time Bags of Food started to take referrals from a much wider number of organisations as well as directly helping people in Shepperton.

In the first two weeks of April, the local Rotary Clubs were donating funds, Brakes Foodservice were delivering foods that had been destined for cafés and restaurants: lots of milk, yogurts, kilos of cheese, sacks of baking potatoes.

Shepperton residents started to drop food off at the Jubilee Centre when out for their daily exercise. BP Express in the High Street donated food with short dates. Daines & Gray Butchers made a financial donation as did many individuals. Local Rotary Clubs started street collections which still continue. The marvellous ‘Shepperton Lockdown doorsteps’ project captured a magnificent photographic record of these strange times and raised almost £4,000 for Bags of Food.

From the start of April to 27 July, Jubilee Church members and other volunteers have prepared 277 food ‘parcels’, feeding 48 households ranging in size from one to eight people, equating to 897 individuals.

When look back, we were wondering and worrying where our help would come from and how would we manage.

‘If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.’ 1 Peter 4: 11

 'Bags of Food steps up to meet the needs of Shepperton in lockdown'

(June 2020)
It was clear that the COVID-19 pandemic would bring about a much greater need locally and Bags of Food has faced a much bigger challenge. Working with other foodbanks in the area and the local council it was agreed that Bags of Food would become the sole foodbank for people in the TW17 postcode area. During April and May it helped as many people as it did through the whole of 2019; in May alone Bags of Food helped 238 people.

What has been great has been the help given by the wider community of Shepperton. Many individuals have donated food and money, Rotary Club of Shepperton and Sunbury and Shepperton Aurora Rotary have given financially and organised food collections and local businesses have also helped. BP Express have passed on food which they’ve been unable to sell (as well as flowers which have been very well-received by people in social isolation), Brakes Foodservice have provided food from their depot in Thorpe and butchers Daines & Gray have also given a generous cash donation. Costa Coffee, Shepperton Pre-School and 1st Shepperton (St Nicholas) Scout Group also helped at the start of lockdown.



Shepperton Lockdown Doorsteps, a brilliant project photographed people on their doorsteps during lockdown to create a record of ‘normal’ Shepperton life during this extraordinary time. It also aimed to raise £1,000 for Bags of Food, and finished up raising well over three times that amount! The picture, taken by Stephen Andrews as part of the Shepperton Lockdown Doorsteps project, shows members of the Bags of Food team, at suitable social distance, outside the Jubilee Centre.

Bags of Food continues to help many people in the area; 19 families were given food in one day recently. As well as easily-stored food items, fresh food is bought in, and bags often include much-needed toiletries, nappies, toilet rolls and even the occasional bag of dog food. It’s unlikely this level of demand will reduce any time soon, and Bags of Food aims to be at the forefront of helping people out during difficult times to come, throughout Shepperton, Upper Halliford, Charlton and Littleton.

‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink’. Matthew 25 v35