Renfrewshire Foodbank: providing a lifeline for thousands

Among the most vital services we have, there is more than meets the eye when it comes to Renfrewshire Foodbank

Based at a warehouse in Renfrew and with distribution bases in Paisley and Johnstone, Renfrewshire food bank is not your average charity. They don’t want to be busy, in fact they feel like they should be the last resort. Unfortunately, that’s not the case in this era, leaving Crystal Clayton and her team with a massive job.

“We’re a local charity with only three staff members while the rest are volunteers, yet we feed over 10,000 people in Renfrewshire a year,” she revealed.” So, there’s a lot involved in keeping it all running, as well to ensure that they receive not just the food assistance, but a warm, wraparound service which provides areas of support. It’s just as important to get that as the immediate crisis alleviation.

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“There was a 5% increase in uptake from 2023-2024,” she says of the demand for their service. “That’s not massive, but it’s 5% too many. There’s no way that people should need to access emergency provision in 2025, but we’re clearly finding that people still have to. What we really need is a systemic change, across the social security system and the minimum income.” 

While some may have their misconceptions about who uses a foodbank, Crystal knows that crisis can appear at any point. We’re all just one pay cheque away from being in that situation.”

Operated via a referral system to “ensure people get further support,” Crystal and her financial inclusion team aren’t trying to keep people in this predicament. Instead, they go above and beyond to try to change things. 

“Sometimes, it just takes guidance or even just budgeting for us to help. But the flipside of that is people just don’t have enough. Whether there’s issues with bankruptcy, debt or anything else, we can try to support them through our financial inclusion service.

“It’s all well and good saying here’s a bag of food, but we want to get to the root cause. It’s just about developing the relationships we have with other support systems and everyone working together to find solutions for people.” 

A service that is “open to anyone who needs a hand,” Crystal and her team are immensely grateful for the donations they get. 

“We couldn’t run without them,” she declares. “I would always direct people to the website to see what they can do, whether it’s monetary or otherwise. It’s just about spreading the word that things need to change and we need to work together to make that happen.”

For more information on Renfrewshire Foodbank, please visit their website.

Our charity features are kindly sponsored by Correctair Solutions Scotland Ltd. Experts in cleanroom validation and critical path ventilation based in Renfrewshire and servicing the UK.