Our response to the Covid-19 coronavirus

While the spread of Covid-19 coronavirus risks disrupting life for all of us across the borough, the city and the nation, we want to offer our reassurance that we are doing everything we can to make sure our food banks in Barking and Chadwell Heath continue to serve the community.

Here are our latest updates and advice, as of 9 April:

Looking for help?

We are working hard to ensure our food banks are operated with the utmost hygiene, while observing all the latest advice from the government, the NHS and the Trussell Trust to keep everyone who comes to our locations safe.

This means we have had to make some changes to how we operate. 

To ensure we keep both our volunteers and the public safe, our Barking site will now only be open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Our Chadwell Heath branch will remain open during normal operating hours on a Thursday.

You will also be asked to wait outside while we put your parcel together. We operate in a small space, so this measure has been introduced to keep everyone as safe and socially distanced as possible. We will be doing everything we can to make sure we pass on your food parcel as quickly as we can.

If you have qualified for a food voucher, but have fallen ill and need to self-isolate, you can select someone else to pick up your package. Please get in touch with the referral agency to make any arrangements, or contact us for additional support.

We understand that a number of the referral partners who would ordinarily provide you with a food voucher have closed over the past few weeks. For the most up to date list of services that are still open and can provide you with a voucher code, please click here.

In addition, please keep an eye on the food bank’s website and Twitter account for updates in the coming weeks.

Looking to help?

While we do our best to ensure we can support as many people as possible, we need all the help we can get when it comes to food donations. More than 90% of all Trussell Trust food bank items come from the public, and without your support it would be impossible for us to carry on our work in the community.

The easiest way you can help is adding a few items to your weekly shop to hand over at our donation points. Find out more here.

Alternatively if you can donate money, we can channel this into areas of the greatest need. Find out more here.

You can also donate your time. If you think you may be able to offer your support at our food banks or our warehouse, click here for more information.

Back to News