As it’s now 10 years since Islington Foodbank started, we’re looking back at its development over the decade. We have grown from a team of five to over 100 volunteers and now serve thousands of clients each year. We now look ahead to 2021 and will continue to serve the Islington community as long as we are needed, but we hope that our service will not be required by the time another 10 years have passed. Find out more about how you can help the Trussell Trust create a hunger free future here.
2011: A team of five volunteers from a North London church set up the food bank in Tufnell Park Road, as part of the Trussell Trust Network.
Clients served: 278 Adults: 174 Children: 104
2012: The food bank moves to premises in Berners Road, near the Angel.
Clients served: 832 Adults: 602 Children: 230
2013: The food bank registers as a separate charity and partners with Kings Cross Church. It moves to a building in York Way, Kings Cross. It starts to produce a quarterly newsletter.
Clients served: 1,843 Adults: 1,323 Children: 520
2014: Mayor of Islington Theresa Debono chooses Islington Foodbank as her charity, and later remains on the Board.
Clients served: 2,501 Adults: 1,717 Children: 784
2015: The food bank moves to its current premises at Highbury Roundhouse.
Clients served: 2,492 Adults: 1,670 Children: 822
2016: The food bank starts its first permanent collection boxes – the first one is at Waitrose, Holloway Road. This is now a large source of food.
Clients served: 4,109 Adults: 3,020 Children: 1089
2017: The food bank introduces a stock controller to oversee donations, and secures two offsite garages to store extra stock, that can’t be stored at the Roundhouse.
Clients served: 4,949 Adults: 3,687 Children: 1,262
2018: The food bank begins implementing an electronic processing system for vouchers (e-vouchers) and introduces a 12 voucher-a-year policy for clients.
Clients served: 5,575 Adults: 4,211 Children: 1,363
2019: The food bank changes its opening hours from 2pm – 5pm, to 1pm – 4pm, to make it safer for clients and volunteers in the winter months. It also introduces a safeguarding officers and emergency bag system. Collaboration with Arsensal FC begins.
Clients served: 5,684* Adults: 4,254* Children: 1,430
*250 of these were ’emergency bags’ given to people who didn’t have a voucher, but had visited the food bank before – a scheme introduced at Islington Foodbank in 2019.
2020: A year like no other, Islington Foodbank took the difficult decision to close for nearly five months between April and August due to the outbreak of coronavirus, in order to protect its volunteers and clients.However, the food bank adapted and introduced new processes and safety measures so that it could reopen and continuing serving the community.
Clients served: 2,919 Adults: 1,950 Children: 1,950