Students involved in the Green Mary Sustainability Group are collecting food & toiletry donations, raising money and promoting volunteering to support local Bow Foodbank
This holiday period, the Green Mary student sustainability group are running an appeal to support the work of Bow Food Bank. Calling on the wider student and staff community at Queen Mary to get involved by donating unwanted food, some spare change or their time to volunteer. Bow Foodbank is a local Tower Hamlets charity that operates two foodbanks, one in Bow and the other in Bethnal Green. We provide emergency food supplies to those who are in crisis due to financial difficulties. They currently serve around 750-800 foodbank visitors every week.
The Foodbank is aiming to raise £100,000 between November and February, to help pay for food stocks over the winter period as well as helping us provide an extra bag of treats at Christmas. So at Queen Mary we want to help support this vital local work.
Each bag of food provided costs around £12 and for a family bag the average is £15. On top of that the foodbank provides fresh fruit and vegetables, and a choice of items such as cooking oil, coffee or tea, sugar, as well as toiletries, nappies and sanitary items.
We're collecting any of the below items in the donation points at the Village Shop or Students' Union Reception on Mile End Campus Wednesday 1 to Friday 17 December so they can be brought to the Foodbank before Christmas.
There will be a pop-up donation stall at Village Shop on Thursday 9 December 11am-1pm if you'd like to come and aks any questions about donation and supporting the Foodbank.
You can also donate directly to the Foodbank via our Local Giving Fundraising page-
https://localgiving.org/bowfoodbankqmul
The Students' Union offer weekly volunteering sessions for students at the Foodbanks, please contact su-volunteering@qmul.ac.uk or sign-up on the website.
Staff interested in volunteering can contact the Foodbank directly via their website.
If you have any questions about this campaign or would like to get involved with collecting food donations on campus or within your student/staff group please get in touch with Tom Stockton the Students' Union Sustainability Coordinator (t.stockton@qmul.ac.uk)