Norwich foodbank: Update 211

Another busy couple of weeks have flown by, staying busy with the essentials – receiving food and getting it to people who need it – but also lots of wraparound ‘stuff’ too.

 

Trussell Mid-Year Stats

On Wednesday this week, there were 2 areas Trussell were in the news for: one was the next step in the Guarantee Our Essentials campaign, taking a brand new newspaper (copy attached) to Westminster to hand out to MPs and commuters to share stories of hope and hardship that had been gathered by foodbanks across the UK; this included the tablecloth activities we ran. The other was their release of the mid-year statistics, sharing numbers from April – September 2024. For our part (i.e. just Norwich foodbank) we gave out food to 6,218 people in this 6 month period which is a <1% change (decrease) on the same period in 2023. We know from our on-site partners that people they help are much less likely to return to use the foodbank again so we are hopeful that this trend will continue: numbers will decrease and stories of hope and change will continue to increase. Katherine and I were on a zoom with Pathfinder foodbanks across the country earlier in the week and several have seen either a very small increase or a decrease (as opposed to the national picture of a large increase) so again this gives hope for a positive change and shows that the different interventions Pathfinder foodbanks are implementing and continuing are making an impact. Trussell press release regarding the stats can be read in full here

 

That’s a Wrap! 

Following on from the filming at Bowthorpe, I visited Farnworth and Kearsley (F&K) foodbank (15 minutes outside Manchester) to see their set up for the other half of the film. My feet are still firmly on the ground, don’t worry, as I messed up on the very first shot, getting off the train and going the wrong way down the platform (away from Kathryn, foodbank manager, who was there to greet me) and no opportunity to be re-filmed because the train promptly left  F&K foodbank operates within Farnworth Baptist Church with one distribution centre open 4 days a week, alongside multiple in-house supports available, run by the church: mums and toddlers, wellbeing Wednesdays, debt and welfare advice, English language classes and a really nice (and well used!) cafe. I met Florence, who is the first person anyone entering the building meets and who gives a warm welcome and signposts and triages everyone – either a simple ‘X service is in Y room’ or a more in-depth conversation about exactly what is needed. I also met Andrea who’s life was turned upside down 4 months ago due to an at-work accident and yet she’s already in a new role, part time. She also shared a wonderful analogy about how far she’s come: Andrea recently noticed her luxury shampoo from her first foodbank visit has only one or two uses left and how much life has changed in that period.

Kathryn and I reflected on both visits and realised how we’d both given up more than 2 full days (as well as travel and prep), how valuable seeing other foodbank setups has been and yet when was the last time we made a local visit (i.e within our respective county) let alone further afield like we committed to with this project? It’s also SO important to reflect and celebrate what we’re doing. It can be easy to get on with the day to day and forget how much we are doing, how different it is to other foodbanks (and so not necessarily ‘normal’ as far as we/they are concerned), how far we have come in the time we have been operating AND how you, our amazing team, are significantly helping people day in, day out in a variety of ways.

 

Exchange Trips?

Leading on from that last piece… Jon and I once again encourage you all to take the opportunity to visit a different area of Norwich foodbank – a different distribution centre, the warehouse or office, a supermarket collection point – just to get a feeling or idea of what another role entails and how all our pieces fit together to help the person or household who visits us in crisis. If you would like a suggestion of somewhere different to visit or some dates / times to do this, please do get in touch with Jon or myself to arrange.

 

Fuel Bank Foundation

Many of you will be familiar with the Fuel Bank Foundation: this is who we use to administer our Energy Bank scheme, providing vouchers for topping up prepayment energy meters. From November 2023 to the end of October 2024, we have helped 244 households (totalling over 700 people) with almost £13k and of this over £10k was funded by the Fuel Bank Foundation. Their CEO Matt is going on a tour of their referrers, including 25 foodbanks, to gain a better understanding of the work ‘on the ground’ and we were pleased to welcome him and two of Fuel Bank Foundation’s funders last week. Thank you to Keith, Cristyann and the team at Alive for looking after us all so well! If you would like to know more about the Fuel Bank Foundation and Matt’s ‘Race to end Fuel Crisis’, read this article

 

BookBank

As you read this update, our Friday morning distribution centres may be setting up, in session or indeed finishing for the week (I don’t know when you read this ) but if it’s the first or second option, Bowthorpe will be once again hosting BookBank This is a new partnership with Norwich foodbank – with big thanks to Rachel H for the idea and introductions! – present in one centre, run by BookBank volunteers. Brand new books are given directly from publishers and bookshops and include adult fiction and non-fiction, children’s books and even games that can be given out / taken by those accessing the foodbank for free and to keep. The volunteers are all book-lovers and are on hand to recommend, start conversations and encourage those coming along and can even seek out favourite authors or books on specific themes if a guest has a desire or request. You can read about the charity’s work here

 

Eggs

We have periodically asked for eggs boxes to help distribute the trays of eggs we receive and you certainly delivered – so much so that we asked you to stop a while ago! Well, we are now running out, so any half-dozen eggs boxes you have, please do bring them in [insert egg joke here- Julian, perhaps you’ll do the honours…]

 

GOOD NEWS

We received an email asking if more support was available (and we were able to connect them back to Alex, our CA worker) and the feedback reminded me yet again how valuable it is to have our advisors on-site at our centres:

I was hoping I could get another food bank box like the one I picked up at NCBC a few weeks ago? everything got used and I mean everything! I would like to thank all the staff concerned and particularly Alex who I had met for all the help&support that he sent me … i am so appreciative to receive this info&advice that I really didn’t have a clue was available.

 

Have a good Friday everyone and stay safe in this cold weather

 

Hannah

 

Norwich Foodbank Office