Isaac WinfieldPhoto credit: teamisaac.org.uk (AI refined image)
It has two vans, a warehouse and six sites across Redditch, supporting around 5,000 people annually. Together, they serve around 300 families every week. Because they were having a difficult time, he was inspired by footballer Marcus Rashford’s campaign against child food poverty and believed that nobody should go hungry simply.
Isaac did not begin with funding, staff or a formal plan. What began as one boy’s instinct to share food has become a community-run service that now reaches hundreds of families every week. Read more about it here: The first version of Isaac’s food bank was remarkably simple. He set up a pop-up greenhouse on his family’s driveway in Redditch, stocked it with groceries bought with his own money, and invited people to take what they needed. There were no referral forms, no vouchers and no questions asked. Friends of Isaac’s Food Bank is now a registered community interest company. The organisation’s website lists five shed locations, including Isaac’s Place on Throckmorton Road, Samuel’s Place in Batchley, Russell’s Retreat at Abbeydale Social Club, Frank’s Shed on the Moons Moat North Industrial Estate and Willow Tree in Church Hill. The food bank accepts far more than tins and packets. Its donation list includes jars, breakfast items, toiletries, cleaning products, pet food, period products and baby items, reflecting the practical needs of families living through financial pressure. People can donate goods directly at any shed, or contribute money through the organisation’s GoFundMe page or Amazon wishlist. Supporters include supermarkets, local businesses, Redditch College, the YMCA and other community organisations. The model is intentionally low-friction. Rather than requiring people to prove hardship, Friends of Isaac’s Food Bank treats access to basic essentials as something that should be available without stigma.
That approach remains central to Friends of Isaac’s Food Bank today, which tells people to take food if they need it and share it if they have a spare.
In November 2020, he used his own pocket money to buy £40 of groceries and set up a small pop-up food bank on his family’s driveway. Six years later, Friends of Isaac’s Food Bank has grown into a six-site operation supporting about 5,000 people each year, according to Sounddelivery Media and the charity’s own website. At nine years old, Isaac Winfield saw people in his hometown of Redditch struggling to put food on the table and decided to do something about it.
The impact beyond food
She also described people who once came to the food bank for support later returning to donate food or volunteer their time. One child was so inspired by Isaac that they spent their birthday money buying food for other families.