Vineyard Community & Richmond Foodbank opened in 2012 to provide Help in Crisis and Hope for Life and now annually supports over 6,000 vulnerable people in Richmond-upon-Thames, outwardly a wealthy borough but one with high levels of inequality and many pockets of hidden poverty. 

Working with a huge partnership network at our town-centre site, we provide holistic support to address complex needs including housing issues, mental health breakdown, unemployment, food/fuel poverty.  Westhill Endowment’s support will help us to take this work out to our Foodbank sites borough-wide and support new demographics experiencing food poverty as a symptom of underlying deprivation.
 
Since opening in 2012 as a simple food crisis Drop-in, Vineyard Community & Richmond Foodbank has  evolved into a comprehensive support hub addressing a wide range of urgent needs and empowering vulnerable and homeless people to find pathways out of crisis and into a sustainable, stable life.    Our services include:  
 

 
Community Crisis Outreach

Since 2020, demand across our services has surged by 70%. Volunteers, partners, and our community report rising deprivation and disconnection, with many guests feeling more hopeless than ever. This is particularly acute among single parents, young people, the elderly, especially in social housing estates, with prevalent mental health struggles, and among middle to low income families being forced to approach us for the first time.  
 
In 2022 we realized our Crisis Drop-in holistic support work needed to reach beyond our Centre into communities. A three-month pilot in early 2023 had an overwhelming response, with demand far exceeding capacity. The need for this project is clear: our services are essential in addressing both food poverty and its underlying causes. 
 
We know that some people in need are reluctant to venture to our main centre because they keenly feel the stigma which can be attached to being in crisis.  Our Foodbank Plus sessions are run in a friendly community café setting where we will offer individuals and families access to holistic support work, linking them in with in-house and external specialists, offering personalised support for housing, addiction recovery, mental health, healthcare, and employment, social and support networks, and ensuring everyone receives both immediate help and long-term resilience-building support.  
 
By delivering holistic support directly into vulnerable communities and reaching those who might not visit our Centre, we aim to address the root causes of poverty, isolation, and crisis and help individuals move from crisis to stability, resilience, and flourishing. 
 

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