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Speaker 1: Hello. I'm Ray Lee and this is the Gillingham Podcast

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for anyone living in the Gillingham and Spa area. I'm

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talking to Helen Weaver, who's the project manager of the

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Gillingham Food Bank. Helen, can you tell us about the

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food Bank?

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Speaker 2: Hi, nice to meet you. The food Bank started in

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two thousand and eleven, so it's our fifteen year anniversary

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this year, which in some ways is a great thing

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because we've been serving the community for the last fifteen years.

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In other respects, it's not such a great thing that

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we've actually been needed for the last fifteen years. So

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it's yeah, double yes, absolutely.

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Speaker 1: And how long have you been associated.

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Speaker 2: With So I started nearly two and a half years

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ago and took over from a volunteer who'd been very

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capably running the food bank for the last ten years.

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So it's been quite a steep learning curve for me

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because it's not like anything else.

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Speaker 1: I've ever done. So how is it funded?

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Speaker 2: So we apply for various grants. We have grants from

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Dorset County Council fairly often, and some businesses donate to us,

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some local businesses. We have a lovely band of very

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generous donors who donate on a regular basis, on a

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monthly basis, and we also have one off gifts from

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various different donors and local businesses also, so the.

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Speaker 1: Donations they can be a combination of financial and actual

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practical items.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, absolutely, and when we need specific items because we've

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run low, we're able to use those funds that we've

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been donated as finances to make up the difference.

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Speaker 1: So wind the package is just like a set amount

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of different things. Absolutely.

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Speaker 2: We're part of the trustle Trust, and they give us

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a list of food that is nutritionally based to offer

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three days emergency food for either a family or for

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a single person, and we have a list that we

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work to that they suggest who can use the bank,

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so anybody can use that, but anybody in need can

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use the bank. We take referrals from a vast range

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of different voluntary and statutory organizations, so doctors, social workers,

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health visitors, housing, mental health. Yeah, a huge number of

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other organizations can refer to us, and we also have

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a team of volunteers who go through some of the

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referral process. If people turn up and refer themselves, we

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then go through a list of questions and eligibility but

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also that enables us to make sure that we are

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meeting as many people's needs as we possibly can, because

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we realize that food, although it's essential, is a sticky

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blaster and the reason why a lot of people need

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the food is because something else is going on and

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there's underlying problems. So we finance citizens advice Advisor who

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work with us at the Food Bank that we can

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refer people too and people can have conversations with them,

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and there's a lot of other agencies that we could

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signpost people to as well to help with more of

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their needs and undernying issues.

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Speaker 1: Can somebody just turn up knock on the door if

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they're in need or do they have to go through

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the GP.

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Speaker 2: Or they can just turn up on the door on

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a Monday or a Thursday when we're open. We're open

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from ten till twelve on a Monday morning at Thursday

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morning and our distribution center is at Gillingham Community Church

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in the High Street in between the pharmacy and Dominos,

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and people can just turn up and then they will

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be have a session with our sign posting volunteers who

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can go through issues with them.

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Speaker 1: Have you found the need the usage? You know the

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amount of people coming in. Has that increased over the years.

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Speaker 2: It's definitely increased over the years in the last five years,

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apart from a spike in twenty twenty three twenty four

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when the initial prices went up with the gas and

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electric and what have you, we had a big spike.

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Then we went up to an average of about three

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just over three thousand emergency food parcels that we gave

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out in a year. But apart from that, the last

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six years it's been round about two thousand emergency food

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parcels in a year.

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Speaker 1: So what's the areas do you cover them?

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Speaker 2: So we cover a tenmile radius around Gillingham. We overlap

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with a few other places. For example, we give some

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of our emergency food boxes to carry Cares in Castle Carey,

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but they also have their own free larder as well.

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We also give some of our emergency food boxes to

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Open House in Shastbury and again they have other services

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and resources available as well.

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Speaker 1: So you mentioned volunteers, I assume it's it's basically all volunteers.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, yes, I am the only person that's paid. Everybody

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else is volunteers and we have a fantastic team of

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really committed volunteers.

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Speaker 1: So I assume you're you're you're always under lookout for.

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Speaker 2: Volunteers were there is a certain amount of turnover with volunteers.

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At the moment, our biggest need is for someone to

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help us with our social media and online presence. We're

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desperately looking for someone who could help us with that.

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Speaker 1: Somebody wanted to help you out and come and volunteer

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and off of their services. What's the best way to

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get in touch?

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Speaker 2: So the best way to get in touch is to

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email me and the email address is info I NFO

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at Gillingham dot Foodbank dot org, RG dot UK. Right.

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Speaker 1: And people if they want to food items, I know

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there are places that a lot of the local supermarkets, but

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can they just bring them to the distribution center?

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Speaker 2: Absolutely? Yes, We're open on Monday and Thursday from ten

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till twelve. They can either bring food to the distribution

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center at Gillingham Community Church or they can come to

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Paris Court where our food store is at the same

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time between ten and twelve on a Monday or a

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Thursday to donate food directly to us. All of our

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signs on the donation bins in the supermarket have also

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got a QR code on them which people can go

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on or they can go directly onto our website if

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they wish to donate money, and we would really.

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Speaker 1: Appreciate it if people do that.

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Speaker 2: If they could gift aid it as well, so that

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we can claim that money back from the government.

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Speaker 1: That's lovely. Okay, well, thank you very much for your

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time this morning. No worries. Thank you. If you're a

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member of a group or organization that would like to

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be featured on the future Killingham Podcast, then you can

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email me at Killingham Podcast at gmail dot com. Thanks

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for listening. O