Members of Soroptimist International of Skipton-in-Craven had their awareness raised about the good work by Volunteers at Skipton’s Food Bank at their meeting on 27th April.
Lucy Irvine explained that the Skipton Food Bank was started initially by a Prayer Group at Skipton Baptist Church in December 2010, when it was felt there was a need for a Christmas Hampers to be distributed to vulnerable people in and around the town. The Baptist Church also felt there was a need to repeat this at Easter 2011. By 2012 over 100 Hampers has been supplied, and by 2013 this had grown to 300, all done by Church volunteers alone.
The Food Bank was formalised in 2014, and spread over Craven with the support of Craven District Council providing a Grant to finance a part-time Manager. The Food Bank has had a lot of support by local schools, especially at Harvest time, and they were able to supply 100 Christmas Hampers.
All food is donated locally and is distributed through liaision with local relevant agencies such as CDC Housing; Yorkshire Housing; Citizen’s Advice Bureau; Childrens’ Centre at Skipton and Settle; Homestart; the Probation Service; Christians Against Poverty (which helps people out of debt) Domestic Abuse, and the Youth Service in addition to Drop-in/Homeless at the door.
Food is sorted by volunteers into types, and by use-by date, and then collated into a range of products for each bag which would contain food to the value of about £25 for a single bag, or £40 for a family bag. The bags are supplied by Morrison’s, and staff from Skipton Building Society volunteer once a fortnight to collect items from Morrison’s store.