Stop Food Waste Day: 'It's OK to get help at a food bank'

This Stop Food Waste Day (29 April), Major Carole Donaldson (Penrith) shares with our War Cry magazine how surplus food is used to nourish people, both physically and spiritually.

‘We want to make sure people are fed and cared for,’ says Major Carole Donaldson of the Nourished project, a food bank at the Salvation Army church that she leads in Penrith. ‘That’s what Jesus teaches us. So we want to spiritually and practically nourish ourselves and others.

‘There was a small food bank within the church that became mega busy through Covid. It keeps evolving as we serve the community and the villages around us.’

In 2021, the church created a purpose-built hub for the food bank. But Carole’s ultimate dream is to no longer require it. 

‘The space that houses the food is all free-standing,’ she explains. ‘It’s always my hope and my prayer that one day food provision isn’t needed. But we’re nowhere near that right now.

‘Demand fluctuates, but donations have reduced. We actually ended up with some empty shelves this week – the first time that’s ever happened. But we keep going and keep believing that we’re doing the right thing.’

Even during a cost of living crisis, the community have backed the Salvation Army project wherever they can.

‘People in Penrith are faithfully supporting us,’ she explains. ‘We are blessed by the donations and the support we receive. We have a good relationship with our community and local businesses.’

Stop Food Waste Day encourages people to share ‘practical, creative and impactful ways we can all change our behaviour’, according to its website. Nourished is a prime example, given that it sources surplus food from supermarkets each week.

While the project runs on Tuesdays and Fridays, it also provides emergency food parcels to the nearby Sainsbury’s, ensuring that people can access essential supplies when the food bank is closed.

Referrals come in from Citizens Advice, GPs, schools, church leaders, and Westmorland and Furness Council. People are also able to self-refer. Beneficiaries fill in a form to let the church know what particular items they need. Carole explains how the project works in practice.

‘We check how many adults and children there are and any dietary requirements, anything they don’t like. We try to personalise selections as much as we can.

'Food, toiletries, toilet roll and cleaning products are most in demand. We can provide supplies for up to seven days at a time, depending on any individual’s situation.

‘For someone who’s experiencing homelessness, we offer them a free meal twice a week, and a bag of things that they can manage in a tent – like food for just a few days – and then they come back. We can build relationships through seeing them again.’

For Carole, cultivating relationships is a cornerstone of Nourished.

‘As we have conversations with people,’ she says, ‘hopefully it makes them feel that it’s OK to need help and to get it from us. Sometimes, there’s a need for further practical assistance and we signpost people to other organisations.’

Carole aims to link the project with other activities at the church, such as its lunch club, coffee mornings and Penrith community gardeners group. 

One example of the links is that everyone joins together for a ‘pause for thought’, which, Carole says, ‘comes under the banner’ of the Nourished project. The segment provides an opportunity to satisfy not only a physical hunger, but a spiritual one too.

‘Everything stops for 10 to 15 minutes as we nourish ourselves spiritually,’ she explains. ‘My colleagues share a prayer and thought based on a passage in the Bible. Not all volunteers have a faith, but they do join in prayers and everyone sits together in those moments.’

‘That’s what I aim to do. I’ve got a beautiful team of staff and volunteers, and we all start our day together in prayer, which grounds us for whatever we face in the day.

‘Sometimes it’s really hard – with long days or difficult conversations – and we can bring that back to God in prayer. No matter how difficult life has become, we’ve continued to focus on serving the community just as we believe Jesus wants us to and teaches in his word.’

In the most challenging times, Carole is always encouraged by how God uses Nourished to make a breakthrough in people’s lives.

‘When a family sends a card saying thank you for all you’ve done, that’s really beautiful. I also love watching someone smile as they leave, after coming here feeling down.’

And the project has provided stability and hope. As the team does all it can to help, Carole trusts God with the rest. ‘Recently my colleague, Heather, and I took a guy we’ve supported for a long time, who is in and out of homelessness and addiction, to rehab,’ Carole recalls.

‘We don’t know where his story is going to end up, but the fact that he trusted us is huge. We were able to help him, showing him that no matter how bad life gets, there’s always hope.’