Can you help us provide food for people who are homeless over winter?
Our annual Harvest Campaign brings together our community in a shared effort to support those most in need. As we enter the harvest season, this campaign encourages everyone to contribute by donating food, funds or time to help people who find themselves homeless.
The resources gathered will go directly towards helping people access food, shelter and other vital services. Your participation in the Harvest Campaign makes a real difference, ensuring that those who rely on Emmanuel House receive the support they need during this critical time of year.
The donations we receive during our Harvest Campaign will sustain the service for the rest of the year and we’d love to be able to fill the shelves of our store room with food for our beneficiaries.
Food provision at the support centre
As part of our support centre’s basic services provision and drop-in sessions, we serve breakfast every weekday, and lunch every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Breakfast includes beans on toast and cereal, and lunch can be pasta, shepherd’s pie, stews and other hearty meals. Our volunteers prepare these meals using ingredients donated by the community.
Food provision at the Winter Shelter
Emmanuel House’s Winter Shelter will be reopening in October. It will provide short-term emergency accommodation and support for people every night until April 2025. Every guest will be offered breakfast and dinner.
For people that arrive at our Winter Shelter, hot food and a warm welcome is the beginning of their journey towards moving on from the trauma of homelessness.
Amount of food needed
At our support centre, we’re currently serving 125 breakfasts and 100 lunches every week. At our Winter Shelter, we expect to provide around 4000 breakfasts and 4000 dinners over the next six months.
How can you help provide food for people over winter?
We would gratefully accept the following non-perishable food. In order to avoid food waste, we have put together a list of our most-needed items:
Ingredients
- Granulated sugar
- Jars of cooking sauces
- Herbs and spices
- Stock cubes
- Tinned tomatoes, potatoes and beans
- Tinned tuna
- Tinned meatballs and meat
Pudding
- Tinned fruit
- Custard
- Rice pudding
Breakfast
- Individual porridge pots or sachets
- Cereal – Weetabix, Shredded Wheat, Sugar Puffs
- Strawberry & raspberry jam
- Peanut butter
- Chocolate spread
Snacks
- Biscuits
- Snack bars
- Cereal bars
- Crisps
- Pot noodles
- Instant pasta pots
- Greggs Vouchers
Drinks
- Instant coffee
- Decaff coffee
- Hot chocolate
- Cordial
- Cans of soft drinks
- Cartons of juice
- Fruit tea
- Peppermint tea
How and where to donate to our Harvest Campaign
- Please bring your non-perishable food donations to Emmanuel House Support Centre, 53-61 Goose Gate, Hockley, Nottingham, NG1 1FE between Monday – Friday 9:30am – 4:30pm.
- You can order non-perishable food from our Amazon Wishlist and it will be delivered straight to our door.
- You can order supermarket vouchers for us to buy fresh food. When purchasing the gift cards, please use the following for the ‘recipient information’:
Recipient name: Emmanuel House
Email address: donations@emmanuelhouse.org.uk
Address: 53-61 Goose Gate, Nottingham, NG1 1FE
- If you’d like to make an online supermarket delivery, please get in touch so we can let you know what we’re most in need of that week: donations@emmanuelhouse.org.uk
If you have any queries about your donations, please get in touch: donations@emmanuelhouse.org.uk
If you are a food supplier or hospitality business, please get in touch to discuss any other items or services you could help us with.
How your group can support our Harvest Campaign
Please let us know if you’d like to borrow one of our branded donation bins for your shared spaces. Unfortunately, we can’t collect donations so we’d really appreciate it if you could bring them all to the support centre.
School support
If you are a school or college, please consider sending our harvest leaflet through your school intranet or apps. Feel free to share it on parent or teacher WhatsApp groups or put a poster up on your school noticeboard.
Business support
If your business or organisation would like to arrange a collection amongst colleagues, clients or employees, please consider sending our harvest leaflet through your staff WhatsApp groups or send it through your Slack channels.
Faith or community group
If your faith or community group would like to arrange a harvest collection, please consider including the information in your newsletter or putting the poster up on a noticeboard. We’d welcome any social media shares.
Download a JPEG of our harvest leaflet to send on WhatsApp
FAQs
Can you collect food donations from me?
No, due to our staff capacity and limited transport, we’re unable to collect food donations. If you are struggling, why not club together with friends, family or colleagues and make a group donation.
We also have an Amazon Wishlist that enables you to order items online that will be delivered to Emmanuel House by courier. You can also order food online from other retailers and ask for it to be delivered to us.
Can you accept online supermarket deliveries?
Yes, please get in touch and we’ll provide you with a list of items we specifically need for that week.
Can I make something at home and drop it off?
Unfortunately, due to food hygiene regulations, we can only accept food that has been cooked in a kitchen that is registered with the Food Standard Agency and can provide a food hygiene rating certificate.
Can I drop off food donations over the weekend?
Unfortunately, we’re only open during the week. Please get in touch and we’ll see if we can make alternative arrangements through our charity shop.
Can I donate fresh food such as meat, dairy and vegetables?
Yes, but please get in touch and we’ll provide you with a list of items we specifically need for that week: donations@emmanuelhouse.org.uk.
Can I become a volunteer and help cook the food for the Winter Shelter or the Support Centre?
Yes, please email volunteering@emmanuelhouse.org.uk and we will be in touch.
