And so for our Q1 CSR day, the EcoSend team returned to East London to help volunteer for a full-day at the Bow Food-Bank.
We started the day greeting Andy, who we knew from our time volunteering at the former Bethnal Green Food-Bank.
Andy put as quickly to work for our first task, counting fruit and veg!
Luckily, for a team mostly compromised of Tech engineers, this was our kind of work! JT and James quickly counted up the crates and content; totalling thousands of carrots, potatoes, oranges and other fruit and veg; all ready to be prepared for the next few days.
Having counted all the fruit & veg, mostly delivered from local supermarkets and organisations, we got to work on our next task - putting the veg together into food parcels.
Food-banks like Bow must run with military-grade precision in order to meet the needs of the local residents. We did our best to match this, ensuring the correct amounts of fruit and veg were added to each parcel.
A typical parcel also included milk, cereal, bread, tinned goods, and ready meals - everything to help residents meet their needs for the week.
Many of the food parcels were for children, as London's continues to see a rise in parents seeking assistance to feed their children.
After a few hours prepping, we were gladly ready for a lunch-break.
Finding ourselves in East London, the team couldn’t resist a trip to the famous G Kelly pie-shop; a favourite local pit-stop for old fashioned east end grub.
Full to the brim with both savoury and sweet pies, we waddled back to the foodbank for the afternoon shift.
For the next few hours we were divided into teams. Phil and JT took up position on the front-desk, to check residents' member cards. While James, Amira, and myself were stationed as 'shoppers'.
As a shopper, our role was to greet the residents, and assist them with picking out their food parcels.
With a steady stream of residents coming through, the hours flew past.
We thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon, chatting both with the residents and lovely fellow volunteers. Volunteers who are vital to ensure the Food-bank caters to residents week-in, week-out.
It was a wonderful day, and we really enjoyed the opportunity to help out the local community, and get to know some of the wonderful residents and volunteers of Bow.
This was our third time volunteering at this Borough’s foodbank, and we’re sure it won’t be our last - especially with the pie-shop beckoning us back soon! 🥧
