New Mills Helping Hands is a food bank, set up early in 2013, to help those in our local area who find themselves in times of real hardship by addressing their most basic of needs – to eat.
There are many varied circumstances that cause people to contact the food bank, often they have been caught in the trap of debt or lost their job, suffered ill health, family breakdown, bereavement, delays in benefits or homelessness or a combination of many issues, but whoever they are and however they come to us, if their need is genuine we will give them food and encouragement.
Our confidential food parcel delivery service is run by a dedicated team of volunteers from local churches and the wider community, and all the food we deliver is either donated by members of our incredibly supportive community or bought with funds they have donated.
Foodbank assistance is not the answer to any financial difficulty and we therefore operate a referral system where clients who need our support are required to seek a referral from an agency that can help with the underlying problem. Agencies that we work with are the Citizens Advice Bureau, Christians Against Poverty, Multi Agency Teams, New Mills Children’s Centre, Housing Officers, Social Services, Mental Health Teams just to name a few.
We hope and pray for the day when food banks will no longer be required. We are not a solution to food poverty and should be used only as a stepping stone to a more permanent solution.  We therefore encourage clients, working with the referring agency, to utilise the time they are on the food programme to good advantage.
Should you require any further information on our service please do not hesitate to contact us by telephone on 07425 177999 or by email:helpinghandsnewmills@gmail.com.
Why not visit our Facebook page for more up to date Information https://www.facebook.com/Helping-Hands-New-Mills-Food-bank