+ est. £318.75
We provide emergency food and essentials to people in need
by Jacqueline DeVeaux in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, United Kingdom
Our printing of signposting material (literature which provides extra help, advice and support for people who come to our foodbank) and essential paperwork (order slips, vouchers) is done in-house. We could really make use of an industrial/professional printer capable of printing the quantities we need quickly and easily, along with the toner supplies. We would also like to be able to provide recipe ideas booklets.
The Chesterfield foodbank is a registered charity that was started in June 2013. It is a franchisee of the Trussell Trust, (1400 foodbanks across the UK) and provides emergency food packs for people in crisis. The foodbank has six distribution centres at Brimington, Hasland, West Bars, New Whittington, Grindlethorpe, and Loundsley Green. We also have a warehouse at Sheepbridge and 2 vans.
Local agencies issue foodbank vouchers to people in crises who cannot afford to buy food. The agencies know the people and can best decide whether they need emergency food. The foodbank does not normally make these decisions.
The people could be family, friends, neighbours and colleagues and include:
The foodbank vans are used to transport donated food from drop bins in supermarkets, churches and libraries to our warehouse. Volunteers at the warehouse weigh and sort the food into groups and best before date order and store the sorted food in cardboard trays on pallets. The food is picked at the warehouse and delivered to the centres.
The people bring the vouchers to the foodbank centres and our centre volunteers give out the food packs. In addition to receiving the 3-day supply of emergency food, the people are greeted warmly, offered a hot drink and a snack, and given the opportunity to find a listening ear and discuss their situation so our trained volunteers can signpost to agencies for specific help and advice.
Our vision is for a future without the need for food banks. We are part of the Trussell Trust, who support a nationwide network of food banks and together we provide emergency food and support to people locked in poverty, and campaign for change to end the need for food banks in the UK.
We help people from all walks of life and all backgrounds which includes but not limited to:
The cost of living crisis has had a huge impact on the number of people needing to use our foodbanks. We are seeing an increased amount of families, and and increased amount of children needing help. More people are telling us they can't afford to heat their homes or pay their fuel bills. More people are telling us they need food supplies which they can cook using only a kettle or microwave as they can't use hob/stove or oven. We need to be able to keep a constant supply of food and essentials such as toiletries, nappies, cleaning products as well as food suitable for people's needs and dietary requirements. We also try to keep a supply of pet food for foodbank users who have pets.
We will spend the money on our core running costs to ensure we keep our operation running, and keep a supply of food and essentials coming into the warehouse to be weighed, sorted, picked and packed for distribution via our delivery vans. Once the food is in our foodbank centres, we will be able to continue providing our warm welcomes, hot drinks, snacks and friendly volunteers who can issue resources and signposting information. We also pro-actively signpost to our in-house Citizens Advice advisors, a service we really hope to be able to continue to provide; this service provides face-to-face help and advice for the people who need it, welfare benefit checks, income maximisation, debt advice, fuel voucher referrals, and lots of other specific advice to help people out of their current situation to help end the need to rely on foodbanks.