Raise the Rent for Canterbury Food Bank

Over the pandemic, Canterbury Food Bank has supported thousands of local residents facing food insecurity. Now, we need your support more than ever.

Due to massive demand and the end of the lease on our current Warehouse we are moving to a brand new home that will help us increase our capacity and speed up our operations, helping us to continue to put food donated by the community straight into the hands of those who need it.

This is an exciting chapter in Canterbury Food Bank’s history, and a brilliant opportunity for us to grow and change in response to new challenges. But it is also an expensive chapter; our previous premises were occupied on a peppercorn lease of £10 a month, so by paying the market rate for a suitable property our rental costs have been multiplied 133 times.

We are asking our community to help us raise a year of rent - £16,000 - up front so that all other funds can be used to buy and deliver food. Please donate and share this appeal widely to secure the future of the Food Bank as a key charity in the district.

PRESS RELEASE -

Canterbury Food Bank today launched a campaign to help pay for its new building - after its rent multiplied 133 times. 

The charity is moving to another warehouse, specially converted to suit its needs, because the lease on its current premises has come to an end.

CFB had been paying a peppercorn rent of £10 a month for the old building, but will now have to pay market rate of £16,000 a year. 

Its Raise the Rent campaign aims to cover the rental costs so that all other funds can be used to buy and deliver food. 

The new, bigger warehouse, near Whitstable, secures the future of CFB as a key charity in the district. 

Demand in the past 12 months has at times more than trebled year-on-year and in December it provided enough food to make more than 10,000 meals. 

The economic downturn caused by the Covid-19 crisis, and the uncertainty of Brexit, are the main reasons behind the spike.

The charity has signed a five-year lease on the 3,780 square foot, two storey warehouse, which will be used to store donations of food and as an office. 

CFB chair Martin Ward said: “We’re pleased and relieved to have secured our long-term future at a time when our services have never seen such high demand. 

“It has become clear over the past year that, even more than ever, a backstop is needed to help those who can not afford food. 

“We are that backstop and it is our intention to remain so for as long as we are required. 

“These are difficult times for many people and we ask the public to help us support those most in need.”

CFB provides emergency three-day food parcels to individuals and families in financial need across Canterbury, Whitstable, Herne Bay and surrounding villages.

It has donation baskets in all leading supermarkets including Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda and Morrisons, where people can leave dried or tinned food items.