On 9 September John Casey gave a presentation to the club on the development of food banks in Leeds. The 4 food banks being developed (north, east, south and west areas of the city) are following the framework developed by the Trussell Trust, which is a national organisation, with a successful track record in this area. The 4 food banks in Leeds will operate under 1 charitable trust which ensures city wide engagements alongside being embedded at a local community level. http://www.trusselltrust.org/foodbank-projects
Food banks provide immediate emergency food for 3 days on receipt of a voucher given to the individual/family by an appropriate agency eg doctor, social services, police. In addition to food they provide a listening ear and a signposting service to try and help people break the cycle.
John outlined the scheme being developed to deliver the food banks which relies totally on volunteers and donations. There are no paid workers involved. Volunteers and donations of food and cash are always welcomed and any support and joint working with SI Leeds would be very much appreciated. It is anticipated that there will be more demand for food banks as changes to the welfare system take place (as discussed at the last SI Leeds meeting), and already the demographics are showing that more people in low paid work are turning to food banks than before.
There was significant interest expressed in the work and many people said that they wanted to have further involvement. Following the talk a number of actions were agreed as follows:
- To have formal link between SI Leeds and the Leeds Trussell Trust Food banks
- Tinned food could be brought to the next meeting and passed on – possibly at future meetings too
- Consideration would be given to further ways we could support the food banks – either personally or as a club