Please don’t feel any embarrassment about needing to use our services. Everyone needs help in some form at some point in their life. On arrival at The Olive Branch you should receive a warm welcome from one of our team and be shown to a seat. We will offer you a cup of tea/coffee and a piece of cake and take time to talk with you about your situation and how we can best help you.
FOOD PARCELS
We provide a referral based food bank. This means that if you need to get an emergency food parcel, you can do so by asking one of our referral partners to refer you to us. Once you have been referred, you can come to collect your food parcel. Food parcels are available up to once per week and do require a new referral each time. We will provide up to 5 parcels in one period of need and after that will review the situation. If you have any dietary requirements, allergies or specific needs, please let us know. Depending on availability, we can often also provide extra items, such as toiletries, toilet roll, washing powder and nappies. Please let us know what you need and we will see what we can do to help you.
HOSPITALITY & PRAYER
While you are at The Olive Branch, one of our team will be happy to listen to your situation. We aim not to judge and we are not easily shocked. We will seek to offer advice if that is what you are looking for, but are aware that for many people, you just need someone to have a cup of tea with you and listen to what you have to say.
As a Christian charity, we believe in praying about the situation we find ourselves in, in the bad times and the good ones. If you would like someone to pray with you or for you, a member of our team will be happy to do that. We don’t seek to push this on anyone though and if at any point you don’t feel comfortable, please tell us.
SIGNPOSTING
If your situation requires more specialist help than we can give, we will gladly signpost you to other organisations that can help you. We have connections with charities that can help with a wide range of issues including, debt, benefits issues, bereavement, homelessness, addiction and more.