10 years with Hackney Foodbank for volunteer Jo
Jo Chilton has been volunteering at Hackney Foodbank for a decade packing and distributing emergency food parcels.
The 36-year-old has been volunteering almost since the charity first started – fitting shifts around her job as a Customer Success Manager.
Jo Chilton has been volunteering for Hackney Foodbank for a decade
She said: “I had really wanted to volunteer somewhere for a long time but struggled to find something with enough flexibility for my nine-to-five job. I started helping out at a food bank supermarket collection over Christmas and have been doing what I can for Hackney Foodbank ever since.
“I’ve done the full gambit when it comes to volunteering: meeting the public at collections, packing emergency food parcels and meeting the visitors.
“I believe passionately that no-one should be hungry – no-one should go to bed hungry. The wider outcomes for kids who go to school hungry are so bad.
“Hackney is such a vibrant community but there are such high levels of deprivation. It’s a place of such extremes.”
Things were pretty different when Jo started – at that time the charity was providing emergency food for far fewer people, the parcels were smaller, and food was given out direct from the warehouse (the food bank now has six food distribution centres and feeds around 630 people per week).
She added: “There have been so many changes; particularly since the pandemic – in that time it became a slick machine!”
Though Jo took a short time off during the pandemic and to travel, she always looks forward to coming back. She’s moving to Norwich soon but still plans to fit in volunteering shifts when she’s back to visit family.
She added: “Hackney Foodbank has been such a constant thing in my life – it has a very special place in my heart – the work they do is amazing, though I wish it wasn’t needed. Over the years I’ve met lots of different people – that’s another reason I like it. You meet people from all over!”
To support Hackney Foodbank, visit www.hackney.foodbank.org.uk