Groby Food Bank

Can you help the Food Bank with a small storage facility?

February 2016 Last month the Spotlight reported the weekly opening of a Food Bank at Groby Village Hall. In an update Tim Adkin, Food Bank Co-ordinator at Charity Link, said “We have a small number of referrals, so we have actually been able to help people who needed crisis support. We have received regular donations and the Nottingham Building society are having a collection point. There is now a dedicated team of local volunteers manning the Food Bank and we have been supported by the District Councillors.” The Food Bank needs a small storage space. “Two large cupboards would suffice but it needs to be dry , cool and accessible, Tim added. If you want to find out more about the food bank or can help with storage, please email Tim.Adkin@charity-link.org or call him on 0116 2222214. February 2016

A sign of the times?

The food bank comes to Groby

As the Christmas lights are switched off the range of food on offer at supermarket chains is returning to normal as they clear at discounted prices all the seasonal items that were stacked high just a few weeks ago. Many readers who have been fortunate enough to enjoy all the treats that Christmas can bring may be surprised to hear the news that a new weekly food bank has opened its doors at Groby Village Hall.

“The food bank opened on Friday 8th January, 10.00am - 12.00 noon, and will be available each Friday at this time during January,” Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Councillor Martin Cartwright told www.grobyonline.tk. “Following this initial trial period we will be informed of subsequent opening times. A one-off grant from the County Council has enabled the Borough Council to work with Charity Link to establish this additional food bank. The assistance given by the Village Hall Committee and the volunteers for giving their time will be greatly appreciated.”

The food bank will primarily serve the Groby, Ratby and Markfield areas. Everyone will have seen similar operations on the news, but few would have forecast that in 2016 a food bank would be set up so close to home. It has been organised by Charity Link, which was established in 1876 by local business people and caring individuals to assist those in Leicester experiencing poverty, hardship and crisis. Nearly a century later the charity expanded its work to include Leicestershire and Rutland. Last year the charity distributed over £1 million in goods – such as beds, cookers and clothing - for those in desperate need within our community. It helps over 8,000 vulnerable people in in the city and counties annually.

Stark choices – heating or eating

Two years ago the charity helped set up a food bank in light of increased food poverty, which, in its first year, gave out over 6,000 food parcels. Food is obtained via donations from local businesses and the general public and via Fareshare, which supplies foods direct from supermarket retailers.

Tim adds: “It can be hard to believe that people close by are living in food poverty but we see so many people in desperate need. It could be elderly people, people who can’t work due to chronic illness and we are seeing more and more working families or people on zero hours contracts who simply cannot make ends meet. Parents go without food so that their children can eat or people have to make decisions between eating and heating at this time of year. The food bank helps people over a crisis period and it simply couldn’t exist without the generosity of local people giving donations of foods and toiletries. We are so grateful to everyone lending their support.”

How you you get help?

The local food bank assists with emergency food for local residents in crisis and operates from the Village Hall on Leicester Road on Friday mornings between 1000 and 1200. In exceptional circumstances deliveries can be arranged to homes in the Ratby, Groby and Markfield areas.

All Food bank users will need to provide proof of their identity and a letter from an 'agency' outlining their needs, the number of dependants in the household and their address. An agency could be local faith groups, Social Services, Hinckley and Bosworth Housing, a local GP. the Parish Council, or the Police. Food to last up to one week will be supplied. Recipients will be able to receive up to a maximum of three food donations in any one period to overcome their immediate crisis.

How can you support the charity?

Readers can help the charity by donating. All food donations, however small, would be very much appreciated. The items desperately needed include pasta, rice, soups, tinned fruit, veg, fish and meat, longlife milk, tea, coffee, sugar, cooking oils, and breakfast cereals. Along with longlife foods other items always needed include disposable nappies, toiletries, household cleaning products, toilet roll etc. (But not baby formula or baby foods). Local collection points in Groby include the Co-op on Leicester Road.

Of course cash donations are always welcomed as well, For every £10 donated Charity Link can raise £50 from charitable trusts that are available to help those in desperate need. Go to www.charity-link.org for more information about how to donate and read more about the work of the charity and other ways to help.

If you want to find out more about the food bank or are interested in volunteering, please email Tim.Adkin@charity-link.org or call him on 0116 2222214. You can also see videos about the charity on http://www.charity-link.org/our-films.