On Saturday, 17th August we had our second ever food drive at the incredibly large Tesco Extra in Gorton, just a five minute drive down the road.  This Tesco was so large it had its own cafe, pharmacy, opticians and electronics shop all located in-store.  The footfall into the Tesco was therefore incredibly high throughout the whole day.  At certain points the four volunteers located in the entrance were unable to help with all the people who wished to donate or learn about our foodbank. 

 Large stores like this are a great way for us to gain large amounts of food as well as spread awareness to the largest amount of people.  Throughout the day we had three people who were interested in volunteering (and have since e-mailed us) as well as local social workers who wished to pass information about us on to their local organisations.  This showed to me that food drives are not just about collecting food, but also about raising awareness about what foodbanks are and the reasons for they are needed.  

In addition, the days are also a great way for all the volunteers for the Manchester Central Foodbank to come together to help out in a single event.  One of the best ways that help motivate me when volunteering is when I'm doing it with like-minded people, all united by a common set of Christian values.  Charity and volunteer work in the community is the greatest way any of us can express our faith. Faith in Action is Charity!

As so often happens with these things we have our second food drive only two weeks after our very first one.  This one will be on Saturday 17th August and will at the Tesco Extra in Gorton (Hyde Road, M18 8LD).  Everyone who helped out at the Asda food drive, including myself, learnt a lot about what works and what doesn't while asking members of the public to donate food.  

One of the major things that I noticed was that many people did not need encouragement and were far more generous than I expected.  For me, this shows that there are far more charitable people out there than many have led me to believe.  Today, where there are so many competing charities for many worthy causes, I am very happy our local community based effort seems to draw so much attention and generosity.

For our next food drive we will of course need another team of enthusiastic volunteers.  I know many will return but some are unable to make this next date.  If anyone wishes to contribute, you only need to give one or two hours on the 17th to help out.  If you are interested please e-mail us at manchestercentralfoodbank@yahoo.com

On Saturday the Manchester Central foodbank had its first food drive at a local Asda Superstore in Longsight.  The collection was very successful and we were able to collect over 350kg of food!

I would like to say a big thank you to all the volunteers who participated and helped make it such a success.  The volunteers spent there time handing out flyers to members of the general public.  These flyers encouraged them to buy an item of food for us during their shop.  In addition the volunteers were on hand to answer any questions that people had regarding the foodbank.

This Saturday we will be having a food collection day at our local Asda Superstore.  Between 9.30 and 4.30 we will be attempting to encourage members of the public to purchase items to donate to us.  90% of food donated to Trussell Trust foodbanks is from members of the general public, so these days are very important for us.


We require 3 metric tonnes of food to be stored in our Food Warehouse even before we open our doors to clients.  This on paper does not seem like much but in reality is equivalent to over 6000 tins of food.  This amount of food will allow us to serve clients for at least the first month.  We then won't have to worry about food collections for a while and completely focus on our clients.

On Saturday we need volunteers willing to give up one or two hours of their time to help us hand out flyers and collect food.  If you are interested in any way please contact me at joeyferrigno@outlook.com.