Our Model

The Holistic Model

For many years we struggled with how to define the work we do.
When the charity first began, we were operating as a foodbank, but quickly realised the traditional foodbank model did not work to actually tackle crisis or poverty. We realised that distributing food parcels alone was bandaging over the deep–rooted problems of poverty, not solving them. 

Since individuals are usually referred to us with no income and no food, we continued to give emergency food support, for just a few days at a time in order to fix the immediate hunger and also limit dependency. We then focus the main bulk all of our of efforts on getting to work to quickly to understand why the individual referred to us had fallen into poverty and how they, and those that depended on them, had been affected.  

In terms of how that looks day to day, we give person-centric, rapid support to clients who have recently hit a crisis in order to get their lives back on track as quickly as possible. That often means stopping evictions for people who are being wrongly evicted, supporting domestic abuse victims or reclaiming benefits for vulnerable individuals and families who are entitled to them. And sometimes that might mean giving the client an emergency food parcel to keep them going for a week until income kicks in, sometimes not.. 

What it always means is dedicated support to get individuals out of the crisis they are facing. It means ensuring we get to the bottom of the problem so that it stays away. It means asking being prepared to ask the uncomfortable questions that help get these individuals back to a more comfortable life. We do the hard work. We don’t dust over problems and move along. We help to put an end to the crisis and create permanent change. We are First Love Foundation, a crisis service. At First Love Foundation, we love first – and love it at the very centre of every action we take. We show compassion to every individual we meet, show empathy where there many not have been empathy previously. For us it’s about listening, empowering, putting ourselves in their shoes and helping them to re-build their confidence so they can take steps towards living independently again.  

We are First Love Foundation, a crisis service We specialise in supporting people out of crisis. We help hundreds of people every month to turn their lives around We’ve got almost exactly 10 years experience in putting an end to crisis. And the most beautiful thing about it is our model works.