Restore Northampton, the charity behind Northampton Food Bank, has won the King’s Award for Voluntary Service.

The Sheep Street charity is one of 250 groups named in the King’s Award for Voluntary Service 2026, published on Saturday 14 November.

The awards are given each year to groups “in recognition of their outstanding voluntary work in the community”, and every winner gets a one-line citation in a supplement to the London Gazette.

It is one of two Northamptonshire winners this year, alongside Dementia Sings Out.

Why Restore Northampton won

The charity is honoured for “responding to crisis with compassion, building community and resilience across Northampton”, the Gazette citation says.

On its own website, Restore says it is “proud” of the award, which recognises “the incredible dedication of our volunteers and the difference they make in our community”.

It runs Northampton Food Bank, which the charity says has a network of collection points across the town over six days of the week.

More than 200 agencies are registered to refer people, from schools and health visitors to doctors’ surgeries, according to the charity.

Between April and June this year the food bank gave out 306 food parcels over 13 sessions, the charity reported in October, up from 281 in the same months of 2025.

Nappies, cots and a community allotment

Restore’s Growbaby project gives free clothes, nappies and baby equipment to families with children under five, on referral, at Monday morning sessions.

It supported 172 referrals between April and June, the charity says, up from 147 a year earlier, and handed out 139 packs of nappies and 172 packs of wipes.

Last financial year 361 families were helped through Growbaby, according to Restore, which said in September that Winvic and its partners had raised £25,000 for the charity.

It also runs a free Wednesday play group, Family Nest, a Thursday drop-in for adults called The Well, a community cafe alongside the food bank, and an allotment in the Weston Favell and Abington area where volunteers teach beginners to grow their own food.

Peter, a retired food bank volunteer, told the charity earlier this year that the work is “not just about giving them a food parcel, it’s about getting to know them, having a coffee with them”.

“For me, it’s a family away from home,” he said.

Have you volunteered with Restore Northampton? Tell us in the comments.