Norwich foodbank: Update 217, 14 February 2025
Good morning!
Another busier couple of weeks which included a visit to Gorleston foodbank and seeing their set up, helping at our foodbank centre in Alive, attending a Breckland referrers meetings (not our area, strictly speaking, but many work across the districts and there were some very useful conversations and similar challenges) and a visit to the Norwich South Deanery Synod! Once again, all on top of the day to day stuff which, as a whole charity team we manage well, enabling us to get involved in all these sorts of things!
Charity Vision
Another key event from this past week included our Trustees having a ‘vision day’, to review, discuss and develop our vision and strategy for the charity. We wrote our current strategy for the period 2024-2027 and so this was a good opportunity to review, now we’re a year in. We remain committed to our vision: A Greater Norwich without the need for foodbanks, where everyone has the means to feed themselves and their families without the need for emergency food aid. And this is broken down into 3 themes – one around our resources (people, food, money); one on ensuring we understand why people need our help, listening and responding to those using our services (including but not limited to the ‘lived experience’ opportunities); and one on campaigning and influencing including engaging with MPs, supporters and the wider community. We are finalising a document called ‘Theory of Change’ which is a one-page visual of our strategy to make it easier to digest and understand and we will be sharing this with you soon. We hope it will clarify our charitable aims, activities and how we are striving to achieve our vision and that you are then better informed and clearer on which part (or parts!) you are personally contributing too or want to explore further!
Church Engagement
As a Christian charity, our links with local churches are fundamental. All our distribution centres are linked to a church, with many of the team members having personal links to the specific church too and we have literally hundreds of churches within our area who donate either with a permanent collection point or through financial or physical donations at least once in the calendar year. We have a quarterly (ish) prayer letter that goes out to individuals, churches and groups and for many of us directly involved (i.e. staff / volunteers / Trustees) our faith is what inspires and equips us day to day.
If you read ‘Deanery Synod’ and had no idea what that meant – as I didn’t when I first was invited! – ‘A deanery synod is a group of clergy and lay people [lay people = not clergy (clergy = vicars etc) but who have a role within the church] who govern a group of parishes [known as a deanery] within the Church of England.’ I know several of you in this email will be happy and able to correct these definitions if I’m wrong – please do! Following meetings with the church engagement team at Trussell, the Bishop of Kings Lynn and the CEO of Broadland Housing Association, between us we have spoken at 3 separate Deanery Synods this year – Norwich South, Thetford and Rockland, and Holt. All have given us the opportunity to speak to churches who aren’t already ‘working with’ (whatever that might look like) with the local foodbank and provide ideas of how they could be involved further if willing and able. For example ensuring they receive our news and prayer letters to stay informed, considering being a Church Ambassador and first point of contact for local or national campaigns and news related to poverty and justice or simply to talk about the work of the foodbank and Trussell with friends. We have also just received a link to some new Lent resources if you or your church / house / small group are interested: Trussell Lent Resources
Warehouse Animals…
The Friday afternoon team had an interesting thought a few weeks ago, triggered by the delivery of boxes from Kite Packaging… Using their knowledge of stock items and a bit of creativity, they created a veritable zoo of products with animals named / included in them… See attached
Citizens Advice
At a recent Partners meeting, our CA workers Alex and Laura gave an overview of the services CA offers and we thought it would be realyl helpful to share with you too – please see attached a short PowerPoint presentation with a few slides detailing the locations (including our foodbank centres), services and contact numbers.
Location, Location, Location
We received an email this week from a person with a voucher who asked if they could attend a different foodbank centre from the one they had been ‘allocated’ on the system. As we always do, we shared that unless there are dietary requirements to meet, people can collect from any centre and we are pleased to have 11 options throughout the week. This person went on to say that they know someone at the centre they had been allocated and they didn’t want their friend to know they were struggling, saying ‘they have a lot of worry at the moment without me adding to it.’ It was a reminder yet again of how difficult it can be to ask for and to receive help and how important it is for us to treat everyone who comes to us gently – it may be our 1,000th time serving but it is so often that person’s 1st visit and that must be so hard.
GOOD NEWS
We received this message from a donor and previous recipient of a food parcel PLUS a huge bag filled with lovely food items! Her comments fit so well with what I shared above, regarding how we treat and welcome people
I am disabled without transport and would love to give to the foodbank as I found myself in a position where I needed help and was overwhelmed with how amazing everyone is who is involved. I would love to give back to keep the cycle going. I was so impressed with how much help I was given and I just wanted to help out where I can.
Wishing you all a good Friday
Hannah
