Jane Benyon, founder of the Oxford Community Emergency Foodbank (CEF), took part in a zoom conversation organised by the Faith in Action Group on 5 August. Referrals during the first three months of the pandemic were nearly three times those in the same period of 2019, she said. In April CEF supported over 500 families with food parcels.
In March, when it became clear that a collection service was no longer safe, CEF switched to a delivery service. Within a period of two weeks, they found new volunteers to replace those who were shielding and to pack and deliver food parcels, and set up an electronic referral system. Demand is now easing off, but is expected to rise again in September and October, when people who have been furloughed may find they have lost their jobs.
