Independent estate agency pledges to double food bank donations

The team at Location Location with some of the donations collected for Hackney Foodbank

An independent estate agency is matching all food donations for Hackney Foodbank dropped at its Stoke Newington offices indefinitely.

Location Location has been a donation point for the food bank for the past decade but, as demand for emergency food reaches unprecedented levels, the team have decided to go one step further.

Vicky Bibiris, a Partner at the independent agency, said: “We’ve always felt that estate agencies should use their prime high street positions for social good.  Right in the heart of Stoke Newington, we’re a convenient place for people to drop in food and, since we started supporting Hackney Foodbank, we’ve collected more than 10 tonnes of food.  With demand for emergency food outstripping donations locally, we’ve decided to double all donations dropped to our offices for the foreseeable future. 

“As a community business, we feel we have a duty to help people who are experiencing hardship. Hopefully in time things will improve and we’ll see an end for the need of food banks – until that happens, they’ll have our full support.”

It’s the latest in a string of charitable initiatives by the award-winning estate agency. In partnership with the Local Buyers Club, they run the Winter Toy Appeal, which supports thousands of children each Christmas and they’ve coordinated huge collections for asylum seekers.

Jenna Fansa, Head of Communications and Fundraising for Hackney Foodbank said: “Location Location are already one of our biggest supporters and this latest phenomenal act of kindness will be a big help.  We’d love to see estate agencies throughout London supporting their food banks in this way.

“While demand for our food bank has more than doubled since 2022, food donations have only increased by 20%.   We support an average of 655 people per week, but the winter months are our busiest - If this demand doesn’t ease, we could be supporting more than 1,500 people per week over the Christmas period. I’d urge anyone who can to drop in donations of non-perishable food at Location Location; knowing they’ll be matched tin for tin.”

Hackney Foodbank operates Monday to Saturday and has six food distribution centres in Homerton, Clapton, Dalston, Stoke Newington, Hackney Central and Hoxton. The charity, which was founded 12 years ago, also has the Hackney Giving Van, a mobile food bank which serves the community five days per week.