Foodbank Celebrates Living Wage Commitment

The Living Wage Foundation is pleased to announce that West Cheshire Foodbank, has this month, September 2015, been accredited as a Living Wage employer.

West Cheshire Foodbank has always met the criteria set by the Living Wage Foundation, which means that staff at the charity, regardless of whether they are permanent employees or third-party contractors and suppliers; receive a minimum hourly wage of £7.85 or above - significantly higher than the national minimum wage of £6.50.

Rev. Christine Jones, Chair of Trustees at West Cheshire Foodbank, a local charity that employs three part-time staff, said: “We’re delighted that we’re now an accredited UK Living Wage Employer. We know from our own experience and research that local families can go hungry when their incomes are low and insecure. We have always paid a living wage, but this independent, third-party accreditation demonstrates our ongoing commitment to look after our employees in the same way that we hope neighbouring churches, charities and businesses will, to ensure that no-one needs a foodbank because work doesn’t pay.”

The Living Wage is an hourly rate set independently and updated annually. The Living Wage is calculated according to the basic cost of living using the ‘Minimum Income Standard’ for the UK. Decisions about what to include in this standard are set by the public; it is a social consensus about what people need to make ends meet.

Employers choose to pay the Living Wage on a voluntary basis. The Living Wage enjoys cross party support, with public backing from the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.

Living Wage Foundation Director, Rhys Moore said: “We are delighted to welcome West Cheshire Foodbank to the Living Wage movement as an accredited employer.

The best employers are voluntarily signing up to pay the Living Wage now. The Living Wage is a robust calculation that reflects the real cost of living, rewarding a hard day’s work with a fair day’s pay.

We have accredited over 1,700 leading employers, including West Cheshire Foodbank, ranging from independent printers, hairdressers and breweries, to well-known companies such as Nationwide, Aviva and SSE. These businesses recognise that clinging to the national minimum wage is not good for business. Customers expect better than that. "

Adrian's Story

"Has been unemployed for 5 months. On JSA. Paid £500 of his own money to go on a chainsaw licence course in Preston. - 2 days. Getting up at 4am. Wasn't eligible to look for work on these days so lost money for two weeks. JCP put him on a mandatory work placement - couldn't get money out of post office until 9am and so couldn't get to work for 7am leading to a sanction for 2 months. Payment will start again in August."

Thanks to Adrian for sharing this with us.

Overwhelmed by Support as Shoppers Donate 5084 kgs of Food

By Nancy Brian Mbaya.

This weekend, Trussell Trust Foodbanks across the UK worked in partnership with Tesco stores, asking members of the public to donate to help local people in crisis.

The National Food Collection is a bi-annual event  in which the Tesco stores located on Sealand Road and Frodsham Street in Chester participate.

Last year alone, Trussell Trust’s UK Foodbank Network provided support and three days’ emergency food to more than 1 million people, including almost 400,000 children. As well as receiving a parcel of nutritionally balanced, long-life food, foodbank clients and are signposted to services that can provide further, more long-term support.

Volunteers at West Cheshire Foodbank were really encouraged to speak with customers who were enthusiastic about the Food Collection and clearly understood that local people are struggling to put food on the table.We spoke to customers to see what they thought.

Mr and Mrs Fawcett said that with more people going through difficult times, the mere thought of children going without food because their parents cannot provide for them is abhorrent. They decided to donate to the Foodbank out of the little they get from their pension.

Mr Thomas also stated that people are going through difficult times at the moment and felt that there was therefore the need for people in the city to join hands in order to make a difference in the lives of the people who are struggling to feed themselves.

Three year old William was another donor who, prompted by his mother Kate, picked some cans of tinned food for the food collection. Kate said that donating towards Foodbank was really worthwhile and that she believed in teaching her children the importance of helping people who are in need.

Volunteers displayed great enthusiasm and joy as they distributed fliers and prompted shoppers to donate towards the food collection. Will and his wife Celia, who have been volunteering with the Foodbank since it opened in 2012 spoke of how this was an important thing to do in view of the increasing cuts to social services, especially with more children at the receiving end of it all. 

Judith described the food collection and the response of the people as highly generous and sacrificial adding that it was only by God’s grace that she wasn't in a situation where she was unable to afford food instead of one where she was able to contribute to support others. Wendy and her husband John revealed that volunteering for the charity is their own little way of giving back to the society.

Alec Spencer, Development Officer at West Cheshire Foodbank said “These collections have been a huge success and we have so many people to thank for that. We’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who donated and to each person who gave their time as a volunteer. Special thanks go to the management and staff at Tesco for their impressive commitment to these collections, to the teams from Lloyds Bank and to Chris Matheson MP and all the local councilors who came along to support us. Last but not least, particular thanks go to our volunteer warehouse co-ordinators Pete Stelfox and Colin Jenkins for their tireless efforts and commitment to organize this whole event. We've now weighed in the food that people have given and can reveal that we collected 5084 kilograms of food which will make a big difference to local people.Thank you."

Chris Matheson MP taking part in a Trolley Dash!

Staff at Tesco were so helpful.

Food items you can donate include: milk (UHT or powdered), sugar, biscuits or snack bars, tinned meat, tinned fish, tinned vegetables, instant mashed potatoes, cooking sauces, tinned tomatoes, jam, fruit juice (Long life), tinned fruit, breakfast cereals, tinned rice pudding, tinned sponge pudding as well as funds. A list of public placesyou can donate is here.

Tanya's Story

"I am claiming Employment Support Allowance and put sick notes in and am waiting for payment. I didn't receive any money for 3 weeks, so rang them. They told me that the sick note was lost, so had to get another one. I put another sick note in. Again after 2 weeks I had still received no money so I rang them and was told my new sick note had been lost. I went into the Job Centre to make a statement, this also got misplaced.

Now finally after 5 weeks I hopefully should get paid, but it has been a struggle. I am lucky to have my family and to know about the Foodbank."

Thank you Tanya for sharing your story with West Cheshire Foodbank.   

Bill's Story

"I need help because I've had my benefit stopped. I didn't know about the Foodbank until a few days ago. When this had happened in the past I've turned towards crime. This time I didn't have to do that because of the help of the Foodbank.

Without this help today, I don't know how I'd get through the week. I can't thank you enough for the help and kindness that you have shown me."

Cheshire West Foodbank thank Bill for his story.

Volunteer Achievement Celebrated At Barbeque

By Nancy Brian Mbaya

The support provided by West Cheshire Foodbank for people in crisis in Chester, Ellesmere Port and Neston was consistently described as exemplary by the latest quality assurance report from The Trussell Trust.

This sentiment was shared by volunteers at the charity who attended a barbecue at the weekend to celebrate their achievements at the Foodbank warehouse, located near Cheshire Oaks. Volunteers commented that the charity, which was established in November 2012, clearly has a positive impact in the lives of the people who are struggling.

Speaking about the work of the charity, Glen Lomax, who has been a volunteer with the organization since it first opened, spoke of how his passion to help people who are without food motivated him to join two and a half years ago. Glen viewed the growth of the charity as an inevitable consequence of cuts to benefits and commended local churches, community organisations, companies and schools for their wonderful contributions to the organization.

Pat Nalder, who has volunteered as an administrator, voiced her anger that so many people living in Britain, one of the largest economies in the world, were hungry. Decrying the injustice that more people should need to use foodbanks to meet their needs, Pat explained how more families lived in “awful circumstances” because of cuts to social security payments and benefit sanctions, explaining that foodbanks were stepping in to the gap that this withdrawal of support left. 

Terry Green, who volunteers at a foodbank centre, stated that, apart from providing food to those who cannot afford to feed themselves, the charity has been able to support many people who visit by ‘signposting’ to other organisations which can provide additional support with, for example, finances, benefits and healthcare. Adrian Morris, who volunteers at the warehouse, noted that the success of the organisation was reliant on the skills of volunteers, many of whom are retired and bring an impressive depth of experience to the organisation.

The barbecue was a welcome opportunity for volunteers to spend time together, to share their experiences and to celebrate the results of the quality assurance report which highlighted the achievements of volunteers.

Spending time together

Volunteers also took the opportunity to extend their thanks and present gifts to Steve Sparrow, formerly the Operations Co-ordinator at the charity, who is moving on to a new role in a Manchester-based charity working with refugees, and to welcome Petra Greener, who will soon be employed as Administration Co-ordinator.

Diane, Petra and Peter at the Foodbank Barbeque