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Contact Us
Meet the Team
Sabine Goodwin, Director
Sabine has led IFAN's various strands of work including the organisation's advocacy and research projects since 2018. Sabine was formerly a television news and investigative journalist and began working with IFAN in February 2017. As a food bank volunteer, she became aware of the scarcity of information available on independent food banks working outside of the Trussell Trust network and approached the newly formed IFAN with a plan to create a database of independent food banks working across the UK. This list was first published in The Guardian in May 2017. Sabine subsequently collaborated with Dr Rachel Loopstra at King's College London on a study of independent food banks operating across England. Sabine represents IFAN in the media, at events, within advisory groups, at evidence-gathering sessions, in collaborative work with academics and at meetings with central, national and local government teams as well as elected representatives. Sabine regularly writes opinion pieces including for The Big Issue, The BMJ and IFAN's blog page. She has been responsible for IFAN's UK-wide 'Worrying About Money?' cash first referral leaflet project since the end of 2020. In November 2019, she won the Caroline Walker Trust 30th Anniversary Media Campaigner of the Year Award and, in January 2020, she was listed as a Top 100 Changemaker for 2020 by The Big Issue.
Recent opinion pieces by Sabine including for The Big Issue and The BMJ can be found at:
Recent opinion pieces by Sabine including for The Big Issue and The BMJ can be found at:
Abby Preston, Policy and Project Officer
Abby is an MA Public Policy graduate from the University of Warwick where she wrote a dissertation on food policy under austerity in England. Her dissertation concluded that charitable food aid cannot continue to function as a de facto social safety net in the UK, and we need a strong social security system, adequate wages and job security to ensure affordable and nutritious food for everyone. At the start of 2022, Abby worked in Coventry City Council’s Community Resilience team before starting to work with IFAN as a Project Officer in July 2022. She is currently collaborating with stakeholders across multiple local authorities in England to co-develop ‘Worrying About Money?’ cash first referral leaflets. Abby also supports and contributes to Money Counts training sessions linked to the 'Worrying About Money?' leaflets and as well as helping IFAN member organisations with questions and concerns. Abby regularly speaks on behalf of IFAN at virtual cash first referral leaflet launch events and recently spoke at a conference on food waste and food poverty on the Isle of Wight.
Emma Österberg, Policy and Project Officer
Emma is a BA(Hons) Society, Politics and Policy graduate from the University of West of Scotland where she wrote her dissertation on Migrants’ Access to Food Aid in the UK. Emma joined IFAN in August 2022 and works with local stakeholders as well as the rest of the IFAN team to co-develop ‘Worrying About Money?’ cash first referral leaflets. Emma has recently led work to update existing 'Worrying About Money?' leaflets for local authorities in Scotland and is responsible for coordinating the printing of thousands of copies of cash first referral leaflets for multiple local authorities. She also supports member organisations, runs the IFAN's members' map and works on IFAN's data and research projects alongside Sabine.
Ashleigh Haney,
Project Officer
Ashleigh is a Registered Dietitian, with a background in community health promotion. Ashleigh joined IFAN in 2019 as a volunteer after working with the Welcome Network project, collaborating with partners to focus on holistic approaches to food insecurity and improve accessibility to food and support. Ashleigh has since worked as a Project Officer for IFAN supporting the co-development of 'cash first' referral leaflets in England. She now works part-time on various projects.
Jo Finnerty, Finance Officer
Jo is responsible for the day-to-day running of IFAN's accounts. Having obtained AAT Level 3 Accounting, she has been employed in finance roles for over twelve years. She has worked eight of those in the charity finance sector including as Finance Officer for a mental health charity and volunteer Treasurer for a local Charitable Incorporated Organisation. Having seen and heard the pressures people are facing to feed themselves and their families adequate and nutritious meals in the media, Jo whole-heartedly supports IFAN’s vision to end the need for charitable food aid.
Charlotte White,
Member Support and Policy Officer
Charlotte joined IFAN as Member Support Officer in April 2024. For the last four years she has worked on the frontline of food aid, managing Earlsfield Foodbank, an independent food bank in south west London. She was involved in the rollout of the Wandsworth 'Worrying About Money?' leaflets and also participated in Wandsworth Council's recent Cost-of-Living Commission. She writes regularly for the Big Issue about experiences at the food bank and was also named a Big Issue Changemaker in 2023. Prior to her time at Earlsfield Foodbank, Charlotte worked in global advertising for 24 years, following a degree in Chinese Studies.
Anna Gavurin, Volunteer
Anna is a BA graduate in Human Geography from the London School of Economics. She has worked across the Third Sector focussing on campaigning and community engagement on a range of issues including, international development, environmental justice, and food insecurity. She previously worked to develop and run food aid projects through churches in London and Hertfordshire. Through this she became familiar with IFAN's work and passionate about advocating for a cash first approach to deal with the causes of food poverty. She has been volunteering with IFAN since December 2022 to track how local authorities are distributing any local welfare assistance scheme and where a cash first approach is being used successfully.
IFAN's Board of Trustees
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