A Weekend Away for Dedicated Volunteer of 13 Years

Volunteering at Hackney Foodbank has been part of Sue Keast’s weekly routine for more than 13 years.

Having joined us in September 2013, she has devoted more than 2,100 hours to the charity. Now Sue’s hard work has been recognised with a weekend away through Room to Reward, which celebrates ‘hidden heroes.’

When Sue joined, Hackney Foodbank was a much smaller organisation with just a few part-time members of staff and two distribution centres. It was based in shipping containers in the vicarage garden at St Matthias Church in Stoke Newington.

One of Sue’s roles was preparing and sending out the paper food vouchers used by local organisations to refer people to the food bank.

“When I started, that was all I was doing,” she said. “Sometimes I'd be in and out within an hour, an hour and a half.”

As the food bank grew, so did Sue’s role. She began logging donations and stock, sending thank-you notes to supporters and more recently has been helping to digitise records of food donations so they can be easily retrieved when needed for auditing.

Having retired from a career in marketing, Sue originally started volunteering because she wanted something to give structure to her week.

She said: “It’s interesting to see how the organisation has changed and grown. The people that come in and out, and the initiatives that are going on with supporting the people in Hackney and what they need.”