An Unexpected and Thoughtful Donation! Received with Thanks

Last week the employees of Bank of America had a 5 day collection event for our Foodbank and collected an impressive 191 kilos of food and toiletries! While we were unloading their donation back at the warehouse we noticed that they had included a copy of Jack Monroe’s book of budget recipes. What an excellent and very thoughtful addition. Holding the banner are Emily, Emma and Rachel. Thank you to everyone who was involved and donated food.

Proud Of Foodbank: Aggrieved It Is Needed

As volunteers gathered together recently, we spent some time looking back and celebrating what we, as a relatively young charity, have achieved together so far.

We are thankful first of all, for each other as volunteers. Foodbank is truly the community helping the community and we celebrate all those involved. This includes each of the volunteers meeting clients week by week and also the many people involved whose faces you may not see because they are working diligently behind the scenes; processing vouchers in the office, delivering food in the van or sorting deliveries at our warehouse. There are also more than one hundred people who host a collection box and many, many more who donate food. We’re also thankful to each of the assessing agencies who give out vouchers. It was good to be reminded of the huge number of people working together to help local people who are in crisis and who need emergency food.

There is truly much to be celebrated in how we have been able to respond to need, yet still much to grieve over as we reflect that food poverty should not be a part of anyone's life.

Supermarket Collection Honours!

We salute the hard work and commitment of the people who made the supermarket collections on Thursday 3^rd, Friday 4^th and Saturday 5^th July 2014 such a success.

Our roll of honour is available here.

July Newsletter Out Now!

Click here to see a copy of our latest newsletter for July 2014!

Anna and Kate Raise A Staggering £270!

[Image: Anna Davies (left) and Kate Duerden (right), presenting their donation to Mike Meynell, Foodbank Trustee.]

A 13 year old from Chester, Anna Davies from Guilden Sutton, listened to a presentation from West Cheshire Foodbank at her local church in October 2013 and was so challenged and inspired by what she heard that she decided to do something about it. She talked to her good friend, Kate Duerden from Waverton, and they decided on a course of action.

Anna and Kate are doing their bronze Duke of Edinburgh award and, for the volunteering section of their award, chose to raise funds for their local Foodbank. Over a 3-month volunteering period they sold cakes whenever and wherever they could. Kate even got her dad to take and sell some at work! Anna and Kate have raised a staggering £270 for the Foodbank through their cake sales and are very happy in the knowledge that their efforts will help and support local people in crisis enduring food poverty.

Everyone at West Cheshire Foodbank would like to send a huge “thank you” to Anna and Kate for all their hard work and dedication in raising funds for the Foodbank. Very well done to both of you!

Welcome to David, our New Trustee

We're delighted that David Stone has recently joined the Board of Trustees at West Cheshire Foodbank with oversight of our finances. David lives in Great Sutton with his wife, Lesley, and was employed as Group Accountant by Wirral Borough Council until his retirement 12 months ago. As a qualified accountant he brings valuable skills to the organisation and we're thankful for his time and support.

Inspirational Generousity!

A couple of weeks ago we had an email from Rex, a student at the University of Chester, He asked if we could collect a donation of food he had purchased for us.  Rex donated over 100 kilos of food to Foodbank and repeated this the following week with 150 kilos more - with an inspirational note included in each bag of food.

Rex was reluctant at first to have his picture taken with his second donation as he wasn't seeking any sort of praise or validation. We're delighted that he eventually agreed however because we think what he has done is inspirational and we wanted to share that with you.

Supermarket Collections

Thank you so much to everyone who generously donated food at yesterday's supermarket collections and to each of the volunteers who made it possible. It was fun and there are two more days to go... starting very soon at a supermarket near you!

Luke's Story

"I am 62 years old; I spent the last 2 years in Spain, but the Spanish economy went into reverse and I had no choice but to return to the UK. This government passed a law on 01.01.2014 to make themselves look good by clamping down hard on immigration. I have been told I am not entitled to any benefits - JSA, ESA, Pension Credits - until I have been back in the UK for 3 months (i.e. 16/07/2014). There has been no offer of any financial help whatsoever interim. I have been surviving, just on food given to me at the Foodbank, and the charity meals from various Christian churches in the [local] area.

Without these charitable donations I would just have to go hungry! I am staying at [a local] hostel that operates a 'safe seat' policy - meaning I am entitled only to an upright armchair, not a bed, and I am not guaranteed that. I've spent some time on the streets as my 'safe seat' accommodation has been over subscribed! It is a horrible existence for a man of my age, and a true indictment of government policy."

We really appreciate the fact that Luke has shared his story with us. Thank you Luke.