Ihsan Visits the Trussell Trust in Blackburn

Trussell Trust operates over 1,200 food banks in the UK. Since partnering with them, a number of Payzone and Post Office retailers have set up their own collection points in-store to take donations which can be distributed within the local area. To learn more about the fantastic work the Trussell Trust are doing within communities around the UK, our staff have been visiting their local food banks to see their efforts first hand.

We join Ihsan Ahmed, our National Account Manager.

Ihsan Ahmed recently went to his local Trussell Trust depot in Blackburn to lend a hand and see the work they were doing. Here is what Ihsan had to say about the experience.

“I spent the day at the Trussell Trust depot in Blackburn learning about how everything worked. I helped across all areas, from unloading food donations to packing up items into food parcels to be distributed.

During my time at the depot, I noticed that they were very short of volunteers, especially younger people. I also learned how much Syrian, Iranian, and Muslim refugees in the area rely on the food bank. However, I was surprised that Mosques and the wider Asian community don’t have links with the Trussell Trust to support and promote their services.

The day I spent volunteering at the Trussell Trust gave me a much better understanding of the scale of the problems facing food banks – especially the shortfalls in volunteers to support their work.

I will be volunteering at my local food bank more frequently and I aim to contact local mosques and help them to build a relationship with the food bank and support the work they do.”

Support your local community by setting up your own food bank collection point in your Payzone store. Find out more about our partnership with the Trussell Trust and what you can do to get involved here.