Foodbanks

I don't know if anyone (maybe members with experience?) can help with advice regarding foodbanks? Please accept my apologies if I am asking in the wrong place or wasting anybody's time. Someone I know has has his JSA sanctioned. He is going to appeal and apply for a hardship payment, but he would also like to see if he qualifies to get anything from a food bank. Does anyone know how to get referred to a foodbank, as I believe you just can't walk in and ask for food?

Services vary throughout the country. However most CABs and local councils can issue food vouchers. These are usually for three days worth of non-perishable food stuffs. They are issued per household so you can have one voucher at a time for a single person, couple or family. There is usually a limit to how many food vouchers someone can have. Again this varies but is usually something like three per household in a 6-12 month period. They are supposed to be a short term stop gap solution for situations like sanctioning and cannot usually provide long term support. The local jobcentre should be able to signpost to a referring organisation. Most food banks are run by the trussell trust with cooperation from local churches;
www.trusselltrust.org

Some of our larger cities have independent food banks that long predate the Trussell Trust and it’s response to the current welfare crisis. I’m going on personal knowledge of a set up in my own community when I say that such independent food banks may not always give food to take away but they will feed (and often clothe) a deperate individual or family on the premises without referral from a third party. It is worth contacting the Salvation Army to see what’s available in your area. The SA is a Christian institution with a very long history of helping people in obvious need.

Just wanted to say 'thank you' to everyone that replied to my message. He will phone the job centre tomorrow. I think it's Trussel we have here too (Glasgow).