From Emergency Aid to Empowerment: One Project’s Journey Beyond the Food Bank Model

This week, we sat down with Laurel Nathan from St Richard’s Community Support Café in Brighton, someone who has quietly sparked one of the most exciting developments in dignified food support to date. Laurel joined the project as Food Bank Manager in January 2025. Just twelve months later, she had done something many believed impossible: she closed the food bank.

What might sound like an ending is in fact a fresh start. Laurel used a personalised, relationship-led approach, to work directly with every individual who walked through the door to ensure they were accessing the right help for their circumstances. The result was profound. The need for emergency parcels fell week by week, not because hardship disappeared, but because people were no longer left to face it alone.

At a moment when the idea of developing Food Bank Free Places is gathering momentum, Hollingdean stands as a pioneering example of what’s possible. Laurel’s work shows that food banks are neither an inevitable nor the most effective response to poverty. With the right leadership, communities can move beyond crisis provision toward dignity, empowerment and long-term resilience.

Hi Laurel, can you start by talking us through how the Community Support Cafe has changed since you took on the role of Food Bank manager.

In October 2025, our project officially closed its doors as a Trussell Trust food bank and we began a new chapter. We’re currently in a transition phase, helping our community to understand not just what’s changed, but why. Our team includes one paid staff member and seven dedicated volunteers.

Talk us through how that all started.

When I stepped into the role at the start of 2024, we were distributing upwards of 3,500 food parcels a year and supporting around 80 households each week. I started by introducing individual support for every client, and quite quickly, those numbers began to fall. By the time we closed, only 4–5 parcels were needed per week, although more people were accessing broader support.

Having worked in food provision across the US, Manchester and Brighton, I saw a troubling pattern - lots of people accessed free food even after their immediate crisis had passed, either because it was available, or because they remained stuck in a cycle of need without support to address the underlying issues that had brought them to a food bank in the first place. Post-Covid, many food banks were overwhelmed, focused solely on distribution, and unable to offer meaningful support. Many of the people who were accessing our food bank weren’t just hungry, they were stuck, disempowered and often seeking human connection.

We didn’t want to perpetuate a system that treated people as numbers. We wanted to offer dignity, listen deeply and help people to move forward.

It’s an astonishingly nuanced approach. What did the personalised support entail?

When I took on the role, we closed for a month to rethink our approach. I personally called every person on our books, not just to introduce myself, but to understand their circumstances. Many didn’t need emergency food anymore; they needed budgeting help or access to affordable food networks, so that’s what we started with.

We redesigned our food distribution model. Instead of three-day parcels based on limited choices, we offered generous pre-packed bags with staples like rice and pasta, plus a “choose table” with fresh produce, eggs, and meat. This freed up volunteers to build relationships rather than manage lists.

Eventually, the number of people needing food dropped so significantly that continuing as a full food bank no longer made sense. We introduced a voucher system for those still in crisis, and redirected our energy toward long-term, dignified support.

It’s really interesting, because as an alliance, we advocate for choice wherever possible, but actually, you were focused on providing food only to people experiencing an emergency, not as a means of long term support. Did people miss the choice and the social side of the food bank?

We continue to welcome people to our community support café, where they can have something to eat or drink and access a wide range of support, including organisations helping with benefits, social isolation, those experiencing mental and physical health issues, help with utilities, debt advice and gambling help. My own background in supporting vulnerable adults, families in crisis, and homelessness, alongside training in debt coaching, means we can offer holistic, informed support.

We work closely with Brightstore, the affordable food project based on our estate. Their service offers a vital next step for those moving beyond emergency food support, helping people rebuild confidence and self-reliance. Together, we engage with a wide range of service users, consulting with them to identify unmet needs in our community. By coordinating efforts and avoiding duplication, we’re able to offer more meaningful support. In addition to the weekly Community Support Café, our plan is to start cooking courses tailored to low-income and Universal Credit budgets, and the groundwork is being laid for a recovery group for addictions.

It sounds like having a social supermarket close by made this possible. What would be your advice for others considering the shift?

Yes, I would say that having BrightStore as a partner was essential. We couldn’t have done it without that link. To other food banks thinking about changing their offer, it can be done, but you will need to link up with other projects and support services nearby - that way, you focus on building relationships and a clear action plan for each person you work with.

I’d say, be clear on your motivations, create a plan and consider closing for a short period to relaunch with consistency. Difficult conversations will come, but when you know you’re loving people the best way you can, it keeps you going.

What’s next for St Richards?

Our aspiration is to see our community flourish. In Hollingdean, we currently rank highest on the national index of multiple deprivation. Our dream is that the children born today will raise their own families in a community ranked level 4, 5 or above.

We’re launching a recovery course in the new year, alongside shorter, responsive courses shaped by community needs, starting with cooking sessions tailored to low-income and Universal Credit budgets. Our long-term aim is to continue evolving our support to prevent a return to food bank dependency.

We’re proud of the journey we’ve taken, and hopeful about what’s ahead. Dignified food support is possible. We have so many case studies of lives that have changed for the better and I hope that this will have a generational impact.

I think for the whole community, there’s been a shift in mindset. I hope that by taking the time to listen to people, and by asking questions and building support around real needs, we’re helping our community move from surviving to thriving.

Food Bank Free Places are not only possible, they are already happening.

Community members enjoying a drink at St Richards Community Support Cafe