New Forest Basics Bank provides basics for people in need locally

The New Forest Basics Bank supplies food and household necessities to people who are struggling on low or no income in Lymington and the New Forest. In 2019 Oliver Stanley took on the role of Chairman and is ably supported by his wonderful team of volunteers. In 2020 the New Forest Basics Bank moved to its new much bigger location at Cannon Street East Car Park.

Update from Ollie May 2022:

The New Forest Basics Bank continues to provide an excellent service and I have listed below some highlights so everyone knows what we are upto.

The basics!

• We are open 5 days a week, 09.00-15.00.
• We look after circa 97-115 families every week.
• We have over 200 volunteers who do a myriad of roles, drivers, packers, office workers and supervisors.
• We are located at the bottom of the Cannon Street East (Tesco) CAR Park (it's well signed).

What we provide

• We provide a complete range of household supplies which includes basic tins, pastas, cereals - which every Foodbank supplies.
• In addition we supply fresh veg and fruit, all toiletries as well as washing up liquid, clothes washing liquid, frozen food for teenagers, milk, cheese, spreads, ready meals cooked by Jane Overall and freshly baked cakes.

How the Basics Bank works - click here

Where the funding comes from

• We receive no central funding
• But we have a great relationship with the district council and we are currently spending up to £16,000 in some months.
• We buy 50% of the supplies we distribute
• The remaining 50% comes split evenly between local donations collected by the wonderful Barton RotaryClub and Fareshare the nationwide charity which has a branch in Totton where we source the majority of our fresh food.

Community Fareshare Larders 

• We all know a Foodbank is only a “ sticking plaster”
• So we have started 4 Community Fareshare Larders in Ashley (Baptist Church Car Park), Pennington (St Marks Church Hall Ca Park) Nedderman Centre in New Milton and Bransgore ( primary school and church car park).
• So each week a white van turns up at a set time for 1 hour and we distribute a huge range of conventional ambient food which is pre packed and a range of fresh food which can include everything from fresh chicken to potted shrimps and takes in fresh vegetables and treats in between!

The lowdown about the larders - click here!

Ukraine

• We have taken on approximately 25 new Ukrainian families so far.
• This has been an exciting challenge as their requirements are different and we have to master the language barrier - so we now have Ukrainian volunteers helping us out too.

We always need more volunteers - if you'd like to get involved please click here

To make a financial donation - on a one off or regular basis, please click here

 We can all help by donating food and household goods in local shops including Waitrose, Coop & Tesco. 

Food bank usage increasing as more and more people need help with basics

According to research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation nearly four out of 10 households with children, or 8.1 million people, live below an income level regarded by the public as the minimum needed to participate in society, and there are many people who are disadvantaged in this way living in our midst in the New Forest.

Whatever the individual circumstances and/or the politics, for those of us who have plenty, Christmas is a particularly poignant time to be aware of this.  And there is a something all of us who wish to, can do to help.

Basics Bank will help anybody who doesn’t have means to feed themselves or their family with food pending other arrangements, on a referral basis by agencies who then refer the individuals or families concerned.

Here in Lymington it is run by a wonderful team of volunteers based in a new building in the bottom right hand corner of the Cannon Street East Car Park.  It is completely non discriminatory, and fills a local need.

Food and household necessities - collection from our local supermarkets

As well as financial donations which are a simple way to help and volunteers who are always needed to join the team, Basics Bank welcomes donations in terms of non perishable food and other consumables and there are boxes for these on the way out of many local stores in and around Lymington including Waitrose, Coop, Hollands, One Stop, Poundland, Pilley Community Store and Tesco.

The kinds of items which are requested include:

• Tinned meats and other tins: eg hot dogs, meat balls, fish
• Pasta, rice, packets of noodles, pot noodles
• Tins & jars of custard, rice puddings, jams, marmalades etc
• Coffee, biscuits savoury and sweet, cereals
• Washing up liquid, shampoo, shower gel
• Tooth brushes and toothepaste, toilet rolls

It's easy to get the idea - stuff which will keep!  And if we remember when we start our shopping we can collect extra at little extra cost to ourselves by taking advantages of the offers currently running.

More information: https://basicsbank.org.uk/about-us/