FAQ

Bow Foodbank is an independent charity, to carefully manage the resources we have we focus our support on our neighbours in Tower Hamlets. Our food aid is intended for people who are in a crisis/emergency situation and so we have placed a limit of 3 visits for each person from outside the borough.

If you live in Tower Hamlets we can increase the visits to 12 once we see proof of address. For those from outside the borough we can signpost or refer you to local food provision and advice in your area once you have used your initial 3 visits.

We like to be able to signpost people to help and advice that they may need to help them with their financial situation. Our team are trained to help you finding extra support, so please speak to them when you come in.

Alternatively, see our ‘get other help’ pages, which we try to keep updated.

Bow Foodbank is an open access foodbank. We try our best to make the process of coming to our foodbank as easy as possible for those who need our help. No referral is required when you come to Bow Foodbank. We only ask for some basic details when you register or attend, such as the size of your household, your name and postcode, and some information about the reason for your attendance and a little about your age and ethnicity.

This is to help us provide anonymised information to our funders and to ensure we are reaching the people in our community who need our help the most. If you want more than three emergency visits, we will then ask for ID with proof of address. If you cannot provide any proof of address, such as those facing homelessness or live in a refuge, speak to our referrals desk. We are here to help.

Open access sessions provide emergency bags which consist of staple items, such as pasta, rice, chickpeas, tinned tomatoes, tinned vegetables, cereal and milk.

Tower Hamlets residents can order online and access increased choice. Each food bag consists of some staple items, such as pasta, rice, chickpeas, tinned tomatoes, tinned vegetables, cereal and milk. We offer canned meat or fish, as options and items which only need a kettle to heat in the non-cook bags.

Each week click and collect clients can choose from items such as coffee, tea, cooking oil, toiletries – this varies from week to week.

We also do our best to offer fresh fruit and vegetables sourced from our partners at The Felix Project. Other food varies depending on the type of donations that we receive. We try to provide the same items for every client but this is not always possible.

Children’s bags contain extra items such as jam, peanut butter, rice pudding, custard and tinned fruit.

All items are subject to availability.

Please make sure that you tell our volunteers about any allergies when you pick up your bag. Our food is mainly packaged or canned and we have systems in place to ensure we provide as many accessible options as possible.

Bow Foodbank offers a non-cook bag for those who do not have cooking facilities. Please tell the volunteers that you would like a non-cook bag and they will arrange that for you.

We usually have nappies, please let the team know when you register for your bag. From time to time we have baby food, this depends on whether we have enough stock of donations to supply them.

If you have children under 4 you might be entitled to get baby milk and other food under the NHS Healthy Start scheme.  https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk

We receive donations of pet food via the RSPCA. This is provided on a first come first serve basis when we have it.

Please let the team know you have a pet when you register and they will do their best to help.

We understand it can be difficult to ask for help. Our team are very welcoming and do not ask lots of questions about your situation. All are welcome at Bow Foodbank, we want to ensure there is no stigma attached to coming to us for help.

We welcome support from individuals, schools, church and faith groups, community groups and companies. We also have opportunities for volunteering. Please visit the Support Us page and the Volunteering page of this website for more information how to help. And the Fundraising page  if you want to raise funds for us.