More help for families in need with foodbank at Banbury mosque

(L-R) Basharat Hussain, mosque trustee, Yasmin Khaduji, foodbank volunteers, and Jane Tims and Pat Woolley from Banbury Citizens' Advice NNL-190226-132907009

The mosque on Merton Street has teamed up with Citizens’ Advice to start running a weekly foodbank from Saturday, a day the other foodbanks are not open.

Founder Yasmin Khaduji said: “We just really want to help and the mosque will do whatever it can to support the people of Banbury.”

Ms Khaduji, who set up the community fridge at the mosque, had the idea to set up a foodbank to make sure those in need were supported and to use the non-perishable food they receive from supermarkets.

Those who cannot afford food for whatever reason will have to apply for a referral from Citizens Advice, who will assess their case.

They can then go to the mosque to pick up as much food as they need to feed their family for the weekend.

Jane Tims from Banbury Citizens’ Advice said the amount of foodbank requests they got varied week-to-week. She added they tried to get to the root of the problem with people who came to them – usually it was issues with benefits – with Universal Credit having a huge impact.

As they already do the referrals for the other foodbanks run by the Trussell Trust, everything is in place to do the same for the mosque.

Anyone who needs a foodbank referral should go to one of the Citizens’ Advice drop-in sessions, which are from 9.30am to 7pm on Mondays, 9.30am to 12pm on Tuesdays and Fridays, or 9.30am to 4pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays.