ON a blustery Saturday afternoon, the retail parks in Tollgate are bustling with people as shoppers flock to the shops and superstores on the west side of town.
Many have recovered from the January blues, it seems, and with car parking spaces hard to come by, one can only assume that a lot of money is being spent.
But at Colchester Foodbank, there is a much more valuable commodity being exchanged, with around a dozen volunteers giving their time and effort to help people from all walks of life who are in need.
Colchester Foodbank’s aim could not be further from that of their neighbours with whom they share retail space – for their ultimate goal, chief executive officer Mike Beckett explains, is for the foodbank to put itself out of operation by 2030.
When I drop in to speak to Mr Beckett and Kim Moore, the foodbank’s engagement and outreach lead, there is a slick operation in place where everything works like clockwork. As the biggest foodbank in Essex and the third biggest in the east of England, one supposes it has to.
Boxes are marked with codes outlining their contents, where it will go next, and when the produce expires.
Stocked – all the food at Colchester foodbank is impeccably organised into different boxes
The volunteers are working away, fuelled with cups of tea and coffee and packets of biscuits.
Many of those who come into Colchester Foodbank to exchange food vouchers for food parcels are not the types of stereotypical clients imagined.
They are, in fact, people who have been hit with unexpected personal tragedies – disastrous reversals of fortune which have seen them become the dependents they thought they would never be.
In a deeply personal story, Miss Moore explains she herself was in the same position as many of those who are coming into the foodbank that day.
“My husband worked in the city and did well, but he had an alcohol dependency, and debt problems grew from that,” she explained.
Courage – Kim Moore, the foodbank's outreach and engagement lead, said it takes a lot of courage for people to come through the doors of the foodbank
“It soon became me who was financially reliant and I had to raise two small kids – then he passed away.”
There is a brief pause whilst I try and take it all in.
“Suddenly, I became responsible for everything,” she said. “When you are dealing with a loved one’s alcohol addiction it’s traumatic but the financial pressures are all still there.
“I could never have imagined that would happen to me. But when something like that happens, you need help to get through those times.
“That’s just one example but there are a million other stories that affect people’s ability to survive.”
The other stories and examples are not in short supply, either.
Endless – aisle after aisle is labelled with different foodstuffs, such as fish, meat, beans, pasta, and soups
Those who walk in through the door do not come in happily or because they fancy gaming the system – they come in because they have no other choice.
It’s a predicament, Miss Moore says, people find extremely difficult to accept.
“For families, life has been really impacted by the pandemic,” she said.
“Business owners have lost their businesses – it takes a lot of courage for people to come in and see us.
“We had a man in a suit and tie walking around the building for 20 minutes before he had the courage to come into the foodbank.”
So numerous are the examples of people who have fallen on hardship, Mr Beckett can reel off several of his own.
“We have care workers come in with their uniforms still on – the clock is tight for them,” he said.
“Some people do well out of a crisis, and other people suffer – we are there for the people who are on the wrong end of the stick.”
The model in place at Colchester Foodbank, as with its various satellites in place across Colchester, is one which aims to eliminate the need for foodbanks – to tackle the cause of the problem rather than what the problem causes.
“It’s about ensuring that we are doing everything we can to decrease dependency on foodbanks,” Miss Moore said.
“We want to increase self-reliance.”
It’s a message which is reiterated throughout our conversation.
“Where people are poor, they use the foodbank – it’s not rocket science,” Mr Beckett explained.
“Some places give food away, but giving it away makes people dependent – we want to help people get out of the hole they are in and help people get out of the cycle.
“We want to empower people to not need this in the future.”
Key to this structure is the use of food vouchers, which are given to people in need by Colchester Foodbank’s 265 partner agencies, like Citizens Advice, Age Concern, or Job Centre – the foodbank’s biggest partner.
“We provide food parcels primarily to those who need them. We won’t stand by and let people suffer,” Mr Beckett said.
“In 2020, 42 per cent of our clients were kids – if they need help then they will get help.”
That help comes from Colchester Foodbank’s volunteer workforce, which was greatly reduced during Covid as many of them were clinically vulnerable.
Not all of the volunteers are retired. One, who has a master’s degree in law, had been put on furlough and started volunteering simply to give herself a sense of purpose.
Although she is back in full-time work, she still takes up shifts – and it’s the diversity of the volunteer workforce that allows Colchester Foodbank to cast its net wider.
I get my coat on as I get ready to head to the retail park, back to where people are fortunate enough to have some disposable income to spend on a Saturday.
It dawns on me that anyone, including myself, could need a foodbank if fate is cruel enough to land us with a devastating blow.
With that thought in mind, a tiny part of me hopes Colchester Foodbank doesn’t reach its goal of putting itself out of operation – because anyone, anywhere, might need it one day.
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