Hi there, I’m inviting your organisation to participate in the ‘Sit Down Support’ sessions we plan to run in tandem with the regular foodbank sessions on a Tuesday from 11.0am – 1.0pm. We attract between 50 – 60 visitors each week to the foodbank providing food for approximately 130 people. In addition, we make deliveries during the week to another 25 households supporting another 50 people. A good number of our visitors are ‘regulars’ who we might see 2 – 3 times per month or more, and most of our deliveries are every week, so we get to know these people quite well. It’s obvious to us at Food4U that many of our visitors do not just find food a problem but have other issues, such as health/mental health, addiction, housing, unemployment, benefit problems, debt/financial worries, and social isolation. When we become aware of these issues we try to signpost them to other local organisations which may work in some situations but not in others.
We intend to try to expand this service and encourage more
people to seek help by giving our foodbank visitors an opportunity to sit down
for a few minutes, have a cup of tea/coffee/juice and a chat with a volunteer.
And to facilitate signposting we would like to have a representative from your
organisation on hand to provide more information on the support available and
to join in the conversations where appropriate.
If you are able to join us on a Tuesday and provide a representative of your service, please contact me by phone or email. We are planning our first session in this format to be on Tuesday 25 April 2023. After this session we will review how it has worked and then look to hold weekly sessions in May commencing on Tuesday 16 May 2023.
I hope you are able to support this initiative and look forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes,
Alan Eaton
Food4U foodbank based at Sutton Coldfield United Reformed
Church
07533 966138