Help us to feed people now who are in need in and around Yardley during the Coronavirus pandemic:
Collecting donations for the Food Parcels we are delivering. Its hard times.
The current challenge:
With our local schools closing, with children usually accessing free school meals, and the other financial challenges that are facing our community due to the coronavirus, we know that our community is in need of food provision and other support that is offered in a safe way at this time. We are therefore seeking to expand our current provision by cooking and delivering healthy meals to local people in need, working with Connect Church who will source volunteers with the appropriate skills. We will also work with our existing partners.
What we are doing:
We link with the Council's response through The Active Well Being Society sourcing food from the Ladywood Community Centre and fulfilling referrals that are made into their system as well as our own by way of Oasis Academy Hobmoor and our wider network. This has already proved to be a tried and tested model at Oasis Hub Short Heath run by The Active Well Being Society.
We will:
Cook 100 hot meals a day and deliver 50 food parcels using Hobmoor Community Centre and Oasis Academy Hobmoor school kitchen.
• Ensure that all those in our neighbourhood in need of food have access to and receive quality, nutritious foods during the crisis.
• Safely source nutritious food to people in need
• Safely distribute nutritious food to people in need, enabling them to stay at home and maintain a healthy diet.
• Increase and strengthen our partnerships with local agencies, organisations and food suppliers to meet the immediate need for food assistance and collaborate on innovative solutions to reduce the need.
• Provide additional pastoral support through our phone-line to those who need it and are especially being impacted by the coronavirus.
• Inspire generosity among current supports and attract new donors
To understand and identify the specific need we work with:Your Neighbour
Call for a chat or practical support from our project.
Our extensive local network - (1,800 people a week normally come through our Community Centre)
Families we are connected to through our neighbouring Academy, local schools, Connect Church and The Active Well Being Society.
Our staff team will also take referrals through our friendship phone-line that we have set up in response to the crisis in partnership with.
We will work alongside The Active Well Being Society (TAWS).
We will collect surplus food from our existing partners M&S Food Sheldon, Aldi and Lidl through neighbourly.com. We will also have surplus food from Fareshare, the Real Junk Food Project and TAWS.
Our volunteers are fantastic at collecting food.
We will use the produce to make up emergency food parcels, following current government guidelines with regards to social distancing.
We will deliver them to people’s homes.
We will also support families who need additional support topping up gas and electric.
Background:
Oasis Community Hub Hobmoor works with the South Yardley community in East Birmingham, specifically the community surrounding the Oaklands Recreation Ground. Yardley is described as a forgotten part of Birmingham; with high levels of social isolation and poverty. Our vision is for Yardley to be a place where everyone is included and making a contribution. We seek to achieve this through 3 key areas; empower, equip and enjoy, where neighbours work together to improve the look and feel of our community.
Because of the high level of Child Poverty within the ward, children from South Yardley are often excluded from holiday schemes run by commercial companies. During every school holiday, we run holiday provision, which is either free or at a very low cost, ensuring our children are fed a healthy nutritious meal at this time. Last summer our holiday provision provided over 10,000 meals and snacks to tackle holiday hunger to 531 individual Young people, demonstrating the need for this.
A delivery of surplus food from TKMAXX for us to distribute to those who need it most.
How you can help:
You can make a donation of whatever you can afford, which enables us to continue supporting some of the most vulnerable families within our community, and let them know that they are not forgotten.
How we will use this money:
£10 Will provide a family of 4 with a cooked meal for the day
£30 Will provide a family with an emergency food parcel for a week
£50 Will cover fuel costs for deliveries by our volunteers for the week
£100 Will support the operating costs of maintaining the food pantry.