Part 6 of our Continuing Adventures of Running a Food & Toiletries Bank during a pandemic. Weeks 22 - 28

A bumper edition this time covering 7 weeks when the key has been a consolidation of "MultiBank". We have gradually had more volunteers return and a fine tuning of how we now operate. We have seen our busiest day and we have seen a rise in the number people attending from the BAME community. Rather than a week by week account this time I am pulling out the major themes and incidents.
Can you help? Yes we need donations whether non-perishable food or money to help sustain the work we are doing. We need donations of money as this helps cover our core running costs. This helps us get grants as it shows we have support of individuals.
We are also looking for more volunteers to help with transport and feel fit enough to pick up food collections from supermarkets. Some of these may not be until 8:30pm and then need to to be taken to church, so it can be a late finish.
We are now fully open for donations including women clothing.
See the graphic below for full donation details.

We have been gathering some different information during the seven week period.

64% are men
70% are white Caucasian
the daily average is 52 and these support an additional 19 adults and 30 children.
So each week we support 404 people.

A short video showing MultiBank before we opened one morning.

Masks - Oh the Masks!

As government advice changed about the wearing of masks we took the decision to make the wearing of masks compulsory while in church. No Mask - No entry. We were very fortunate to receive a donation of 250 masks from the Refurbish charity. We also had a volunteer who made some. If you come to a foodbank then you are unlikely to be able to afford a mask so we have also been able to ensure everyone has access to masks. We did run out of masks and give out scarfs to use as face coverings. Subsequently FoodAware have been able to supply us with suitable masks.
There is still a constant need to remind and educate people about keeping 2M distance, washing hands and wearing a safe face covering.

One of our major partners has been FoodAWARE who have worked tirelessly to obtain bulk supplies of food destined for land fill for a variety of reason but still fit for human consumption. Many have benefited as a result. TESCO and ASDA via the organisation FareShare and M&S via the organisation Neighbourly has also been key supplies.

The Ledger Race meeting became a political hot potato this year and spectators were excluded after only one day. Thankfully through a contact with the racecourse, the food that would ahve otherwise been wasted was donated to us. Some photos below show the food being donated and some happy recipients.

A major moment in our journey happened when we received a grant from the Community Lottery Fund. Adding this with grants already received from Doncaster Council and South Yorkshire Community foundation this has meant we can employ a full time food bank manger for 12 months.

We have also been successful in getting a grant (£5400) from Waste & Resources Action Program (WRAP) for a fridge and freezer temperature monitoring system, better tables and racks for displaying and storing our food.

We have also received a grant of £2500 in the shape of vouchers to be spent at The Company Shop from the Coalfields Regeneration Food Insecurity Program. The Company Shop also added an extra voucher for £750.

The Company Shop buy excess or damaged stock from major food retailers and pass on the savings when they then sale this produce. They estimate therefore that the vouchers are equivalent to £8000 to £10000 of food bought in the supermarket. How fab is that!

So it is wonderful to receive these grant awards and they will all help make the project more sustainable and resilient. As we move forward it I cannot emphasis enough how important it will continue to be to receive donations from individuals, as every little really does help. Such donations also show continued community support for the project and this is very important as we continue to seek funding over longer periods. I will be in touch again soon to hopefully introduce you to the Food Bank Manager.

Where can we bring donations?

To St John the Evangelist, on the corner of Balby Road and Greenfield Lane, Balby DN4 0PT

Mondays, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday between 10 and 12

Can we donate money? Yes Please!

Parish Giving Scheme (PGS)

Donations can be made on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis by Direct Debit using a PGS gift form. Even though the donations are made to the PGS, donations are restricted to our community work and cannot be used elsewhere.

The donation will be passed back to us by 10th of the month. Gift Aid will be sent separately once PGS has received it from HMRC.

You can set this all up by calling the dedicated telephone number: 0333 002 1271

Lines are open Monday to Friday, between 9 – 5pm.
You will need to have your bank account details,
church/parish name: BLW Youth & Community Fund
and PGS parish code to hand: 35A635187