Local food banks are the antidote to the pandemic crisis. |

Creating a safety net – one handful of rice at a time.
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Woman weighing rice. ([link removed] )

Shapna Begum (right) waits for rice to be weighed at her local food bank. Photo: Oxfam/Saikat Mojumder



Friend –

In 2018, the alchemists of Borangile, Bangladesh set out to create something out of almost nothing.

Plagued by ill-timed floods and powerful cyclones, and fed up with unmet promises of government aid, a group of women on this river island in Bangladesh hatched a plan: set aside a handful of rice from every meal and save it for a rainy day. From a little rice and a lot of solidarity, the women built a food bank.

"The food bank has helped us a lot," says Layli Begum. "It's better to borrow from the food bank than to borrow from other people, because the food bank does not ask for interest."

Since the first food bank in Borangile, Oxfam and our partners have lent a hand and helped spread the word to other communities. In the nearby district of Gaibandha, for example, the SKS Foundation has helped launch 12 food banks. Oxfam has helped the group develop its skills and leadership as a humanitarian responder, so that communities struggling with an emergency like the pandemic can benefit from a local response.

Friend – With your support as a member of the Oxfam community, we can work with local groups to create safety nets for communities impacted by the pandemic. We're also keeping up our efforts to fight poverty and injustice around the world.

Read more about how you're helping Oxfam and partner organizations establish lifesaving food banks across Bangladesh. ([link removed] )

The money laid out for storage bins, scales, sheds, and basic furniture amounts to less than 250 USD for each community, but the return on that investment has been incalculable, especially when the coronavirus pandemic and Cyclone Amphan struck early this year.

"When the floods come, life is difficult. There is no money, and no place to sleep or cook," says Sri Moti Kajoli Rani, mother to four children. "Now we have a new danger: corona. I am worried about how we will manage in this difficult time. But in the back of my mind I think, 'I have some savings in the food bank.' If I can't do anything else, at least I can get help from the food bank. We will never close the food bank."

Friend, with the help of supporters like you, Oxfam is working to strengthen and support local humanitarian responders in communities around the world. Thanks to you, we can continue our commitment to fighting poverty and the effects of COVID-19.

Want to contribute to the kind of work that tackles the root causes of poverty and injustice – and changes lives around the world? Our work is only possible because of the support of people like you. Make a donation today.

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