A group of people pose with collected food bank donations

Students and staff from Newham College London came together in a fantastic show of community spirit to collect nearly 300 food items for a food bank in Custom House.

Over a 10-week period, around 4,000 students across the college’s campuses in East Ham, Stratford, Institute of Technology in Canning Town and NewVIc Sixth Form Centre in Plaistow took part in a coordinated donation drive in support of Ascension Community Trust, a charity which runs Newham District Food Bank.

On 19 May, student and staff representatives from the college proudly delivered 298 donated items to the charity – exceeding their initial expectations.

Maxine-Rose, Student Union President at NewVIc Sixth Form Centre, who played a key role in promoting the campaign among students commented, “I believe that the student body should give back to the local community. Young people can have a positive impact when they come together – and the response demonstrates the generosity and commitment of students,”

Fizha, Head of Student Tutorials and a Citizenship Teacher said, “I’m amazed by the response from students and staff. We aimed to collect one crate of items – but the result was five full crates!”

“Prior to the project, we researched the causes of poverty in Newham, so we knew food poverty is a huge issue in the borough. A high percentage of our students also use food banks, so we wanted to support our local community.”

“It’s the first time this initiative has been rolled out across all of our college campuses. Students took part in a six-week social action tutorial project. The college is passionate about encouraging students to become active citizens.”

Vicky Torrance, CEO of Ascension Community Trust said, “These donations will make a real difference to us. Every year we feed about 5,000 people and we can’t do this on our own – feeding the community is everyone’s business.

“If there’s one action, everyone can take to help address food poverty, it is to download the Bank the Food App. It’s a fantastic app which enables you to track in real-time items desperately needed by your local food bank and where to drop them off.”

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