Lowestoft's food bank got quieter. The diner on High Street did not.

Sam Porter stands among green crates of donated food at the Rob Clarke Community Trust headquarters in Lowestoft, Suffolk, and talks about a quieter food bank.

In 2023 the trust handed out about 18,000 food parcels. In 2025 the figure was about 5,000. 1

That is the kind of drop people usually read as good news and then move on. The work behind it is still busy.

Porter runs Lowestoft's food bank and the town's Food In the School Holidays scheme for the Rob Clarke Community Trust. He told the BBC the fall in usage tracks a financial inclusion project that sits beside the food bank, backed by Citizens Advice East Suffolk. 1

"We have our own adviser in the Foodbank Centre. She is seeing around 300-400 people a year and the results have been amazing. One in five no longer need to return to the foodbank," he said. 1

The adviser checks benefits, unpaid entitlements, and the forms that decide both. Porter's reading of the town is plain: the cost of living has not suddenly eased, but more households now know what money is coming in and can budget around it. Community fridges have also opened across Lowestoft. 1

The trust's own financial inclusion page puts numbers on that quieter return rate. Since the project began in 2022 it has secured £350,000 in financial gains and managed nearly £1 million of debt; 20% of people who used the service no longer needed to come back for crisis support. Drop-ins run Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 10–12, at The Old Butchers. 2

Trussell Trust figures for the three food banks it supports in Suffolk — Lowestoft, Haverhill and another in the Waveney Valley — show the same direction. Those sites gave out 26,494 parcels in 2023 and 11,779 in 2025. So far in 2026 the count is 6,099. 1

The food bank got quieter. School holidays did not.

Food In the School Holidays — FISH — has run for eight years. Porter said family boxes have been going out more during the breaks. The trust's FISH page says the project served well over 1,000 meals last year and books whole families, not children alone. 134

At Sgt Peppers on Lowestoft High Street, more than 40 families were booked for a free lunch on the day the BBC visited. Josh Doddington, 36, a warehouse operator with five children, grew up in the town. "There's plenty of families out there struggling to go out for meals," he said. "Cost of living is a lot higher than it ever has been in my life." 1

His partner Jade, 34, put the practical math next to the feeling: a hot lunch in the afternoon makes tea easier, and the room itself gives "a sense of belonging within your community." 1

Frances Savage, a mobile barber and mother of two, called the free meal "a little bit of a lifeline" for working parents paying bills and food shops. She also comes for the other parents. "I think there's a lot of mums who sit at home and just feel like they're in their own world and don't know where to go. This sort of brings everyone out." 1

The diner's owners, Joanne and Collin Smith, had both volunteered at the food bank before they were asked to host FISH. They open the doors two or three times a year in the school holidays. "We thought what a lovely thing to do, to be able to open the doors for people who might not otherwise be able to come," Joanne said. The sessions fill. There is a waiting list. 1

Eastpoint Vineyard Church supplies volunteers to run the lunches and activities for the children. Senior pastor Jonathan Coe told the BBC the difference is hard to put into words for families who rely on free school meals in term time and then lose that support over summer. 1

I keep thinking about the waiting list. A quieter food bank is real progress. A full diner with people still queued outside it is the reminder that the work is unfinished on purpose.

The Rob Clarke Community Trust lists FISH, financial inclusion, Lowestoft & District Foodbank, Rob's Garden and Rob's Cafe on its projects page. 4

You can donate through the trust's partner page, or contact the trust about volunteering. 5

Lowestoft & District Foodbank, part of the Trussell network, publishes separate paths to donate money, donate food, or volunteer. 46

FISH takes bookings by email at fishadmin@trcct.co.uk, or through the form on the FISH page. Families can book up to three sessions; full venues go to a waiting list. 3

Financial inclusion drop-ins are Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 10–12, at The Old Butchers, or through the trust's contact page. 2

The BBC Suffolk piece that carried Porter's numbers and the diner interviews is here.

What stays with me is the split screen. Fewer emergency parcels because someone sat with the benefit forms. A High Street diner still full because school holidays still empty the free-meal calendar. Both are the same town refusing to stop at the crate.