by Alan Quick

IN a report about Crediton Foodbank from January to December 2015, the Foodbank co-ordinator, Sue Keogh says that the number of users has remained about the same for the last two years but the work of the Foodbank has steadily increased during the year.

She said that from January 2015 to December 2015, 221 parcels were packed and collected, compared to 231 in 2014 and 204 in 2013.

She said this represents food for 354 adults and 162 children and added that this figure includes the many people who use the Foodbank on a regular basis.

She added: "There seems to be a rise in the number of adults. Several of the households referred have five adults.

"We also gave out 35 Christmas hampers to families known to the Foodbank and those nominated by School Nurses and Age Concern."

REASONS FOR REFERRAL

She continued: "The reasons given by the referral agencies for need are still mostly benefit delay or cut, but there has been an apparent increase in those where it is simply to do with ’low income’. This could be insufficient wages or insufficient benefits for people to last to the next date of payment.

"People are obliged to pay rent and utility bills so it is often food that has to be placed as the lowest priority in our clients’ budgets."

REFERRAL AGENCIES

Sue explained that the most frequent referrals are from the Work Club at Crediton Library, from the Citizens Advice Bureau and from the Local Welfare Assistance team (Mid Devon District Council).

"We have had two referrals from the Farming Community Network - families whose income has dropped drastically because of TB in cattle.

"We have added QE Academy, Neighbourhood Friends, the Journey Counselling Service and the Community Development Officer from Devon and Cornwall Housing, to our list of referral agencies. We always welcome new agencies who are in close contact with individuals or families who might need to use the Foodbank."

VOLUNTEERS

Sue said the Foodbank has a great team of volunteers.

"They are consistently reliable and enthusiastic. Some sort, date and store donated items, some pack parcels for users who come to collect at the sessions on Tuesday mornings or Friday evenings, some collect donated food from the Crediton Tesco store and other collection points.

"Many of these volunteers do all of the above. Several of the outlying parish churches are faithful in collecting groceries and delivering to the Foodbank. Volunteers also deliver to people in outlying areas if necessary.

"In December a number of people from Crediton Congregational Church volunteered their time to collect food at the Crediton Tesco store for Fareshare and Trussell Trust, national foodbank networks that we believe it is good to support. Our local Foodbank also received a share of the collection and this went to supply our Christmas hampers.

"For one day in March, volunteers also took a food collection at Morrisons."

CHALLENGES

Sue continued: "There remains the challenge of matching the supply of food, both in quantity and type, to demand.

"We never know when there will be a drop in referrals nor when there might be an increase in giving.

"Our relationship with Tesco’s has developed well over the year. Thanks go to Andrew Drayton and ’Mr Peacock’ who remove the collection box when full and replace it only when needed, who organise collections and supply us with cash vouchers on occasions.

"With financial donations and vouchers we have been able to add chilled or frozen meat, poultry, cheese, eggs and spreads to the value of £5.78 on average, to every parcel which is nutritious and morale boosting."

"Thanks go to Tesco’s, the Crediton Dairy and many other financial donors for making this possible."

She added: "We have been approached by Devon and Cornwall Food Association who would like to arrange for us to distribute surplus fresh foodstuffs that might otherwise go to waste and much as we would like to do this, we do not have the right kind of storage or the volume of users to make this practicable.

"At the moment we do not give out any goods that have gone past the sell by date - every tin and packet is inspected before it goes out."

FINANCES

The conclusion from the 2015 accounts, Sue explained for February to December 2015 were: "Total financial donations for the year were £1,667.31 and the total expenditure was £1,355.59.

"This is made up of £1,267.30 on groceries and £88.29 for mobile phone contract."