North Paddington Food Bank continuesto be the main food aid provider for the London Borough of Westminster. During the pandemic they have experienced unprecedented levels of demand for their food aid culminating in 2401 families being supported in May 2020 alone. Since April 2020 they have increased their capacity to support aproximately 26,000 people with emergency food aid. Not only has North Paddington Food Bank responded to the increase in demand, it also adapted its collection based distribution method to a delivery model to protect its vulnerable clients. Furthermore, they are also in the process of setting up Advice Surgeries (CAB, housing and homeless issues, employment support, substance abuse advice, etc) that their clientes can access when they collect their food parcel.
The Scheinberg Relief Fund has provided funding to support organisational capacity building, to ensure the North Paddington Food Bank can continue to meet the increase in demand for their services across Westminster throughout the pandemic and beyond. Funding was also directed to cover salaried, internship and food purchasing.