Speaker 1: Hello. I'm Ray Lee and this is the Gillingham Podcast
for anyone living in the Gillingham and Spa area. I'm
talking to Helen Weaver, who's the project manager of the
Gillingham Food Bank. Helen, can you tell us about the
food Bank?
Speaker 2: Hi, nice to meet you. The food Bank started in
two thousand and eleven, so it's our fifteen year anniversary
this year, which in some ways is a great thing
because we've been serving the community for the last fifteen years.
In other respects, it's not such a great thing that
we've actually been needed for the last fifteen years. So
it's yeah, double yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1: And how long have you been associated.
Speaker 2: With So I started nearly two and a half years
ago and took over from a volunteer who'd been very
capably running the food bank for the last ten years.
So it's been quite a steep learning curve for me
because it's not like anything else.
Speaker 1: I've ever done. So how is it funded?
Speaker 2: So we apply for various grants. We have grants from
Dorset County Council fairly often, and some businesses donate to us,
some local businesses. We have a lovely band of very
generous donors who donate on a regular basis, on a
monthly basis, and we also have one off gifts from
various different donors and local businesses also, so the.
Speaker 1: Donations they can be a combination of financial and actual
practical items.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, absolutely, and when we need specific items because we've
run low, we're able to use those funds that we've
been donated as finances to make up the difference.
Speaker 1: So wind the package is just like a set amount
of different things. Absolutely.
Speaker 2: We're part of the trustle Trust, and they give us
a list of food that is nutritionally based to offer
three days emergency food for either a family or for
a single person, and we have a list that we
work to that they suggest who can use the bank,
so anybody can use that, but anybody in need can
use the bank. We take referrals from a vast range
of different voluntary and statutory organizations, so doctors, social workers,
health visitors, housing, mental health. Yeah, a huge number of
other organizations can refer to us, and we also have
a team of volunteers who go through some of the
referral process. If people turn up and refer themselves, we
then go through a list of questions and eligibility but
also that enables us to make sure that we are
meeting as many people's needs as we possibly can, because
we realize that food, although it's essential, is a sticky
blaster and the reason why a lot of people need
the food is because something else is going on and
there's underlying problems. So we finance citizens advice Advisor who
work with us at the Food Bank that we can
refer people too and people can have conversations with them,
and there's a lot of other agencies that we could
signpost people to as well to help with more of
their needs and undernying issues.
Speaker 1: Can somebody just turn up knock on the door if
they're in need or do they have to go through
the GP.
Speaker 2: Or they can just turn up on the door on
a Monday or a Thursday when we're open. We're open
from ten till twelve on a Monday morning at Thursday
morning and our distribution center is at Gillingham Community Church
in the High Street in between the pharmacy and Dominos,
and people can just turn up and then they will
be have a session with our sign posting volunteers who
can go through issues with them.
Speaker 1: Have you found the need the usage? You know the
amount of people coming in. Has that increased over the years.
Speaker 2: It's definitely increased over the years in the last five years,
apart from a spike in twenty twenty three twenty four
when the initial prices went up with the gas and
electric and what have you, we had a big spike.
Then we went up to an average of about three
just over three thousand emergency food parcels that we gave
out in a year. But apart from that, the last
six years it's been round about two thousand emergency food
parcels in a year.
Speaker 1: So what's the areas do you cover them?
Speaker 2: So we cover a tenmile radius around Gillingham. We overlap
with a few other places. For example, we give some
of our emergency food boxes to carry Cares in Castle Carey,
but they also have their own free larder as well.
We also give some of our emergency food boxes to
Open House in Shastbury and again they have other services
and resources available as well.
Speaker 1: So you mentioned volunteers, I assume it's it's basically all volunteers.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, yes, I am the only person that's paid. Everybody
else is volunteers and we have a fantastic team of
really committed volunteers.
Speaker 1: So I assume you're you're you're always under lookout for.
Speaker 2: Volunteers were there is a certain amount of turnover with volunteers.
At the moment, our biggest need is for someone to
help us with our social media and online presence. We're
desperately looking for someone who could help us with that.
Speaker 1: Somebody wanted to help you out and come and volunteer
and off of their services. What's the best way to
get in touch?
Speaker 2: So the best way to get in touch is to
email me and the email address is info I NFO
at Gillingham dot Foodbank dot org, RG dot UK. Right.
Speaker 1: And people if they want to food items, I know
there are places that a lot of the local supermarkets, but
can they just bring them to the distribution center?
Speaker 2: Absolutely? Yes, We're open on Monday and Thursday from ten
till twelve. They can either bring food to the distribution
center at Gillingham Community Church or they can come to
Paris Court where our food store is at the same
time between ten and twelve on a Monday or a
Thursday to donate food directly to us. All of our
signs on the donation bins in the supermarket have also
got a QR code on them which people can go
on or they can go directly onto our website if
they wish to donate money, and we would really.
Speaker 1: Appreciate it if people do that.
Speaker 2: If they could gift aid it as well, so that
we can claim that money back from the government.
Speaker 1: That's lovely. Okay, well, thank you very much for your
time this morning. No worries. Thank you. If you're a
member of a group or organization that would like to
be featured on the future Killingham Podcast, then you can
email me at Killingham Podcast at gmail dot com. Thanks
for listening. O