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29 September 2020

We continue to work according to strict social distancing and deep cleansing regulations at this time. Thank you to all our partners who have followed the requirement to book in a pick-up slot; this is the only way we can ensure all rules are followed.  
 

A huge thanks as always to our dedicated team of volunteers. Without their help, none of our activities would be possible. 

Welcome from the Chair

Hi,
With our hard-working co-ordinator Becky taking some well-earned time away, our volunteers have been brilliant in stepping-up to ensure that we are able to meet the demand for emergency food.

Over the last four weeks 1142 bags have been given out, a combination of "standard" food bags, vegetarian, halal and gluten-free bags. We know that demand for emergency food will increase and that food poverty in Bradford will be a long-term issue so we are considering ways in which we can successfully meet the coming inevitable increase in demand.

Stay safe 
Graham 

Graham Walker

Acting Chair

Meet the Food Bank committee

We are grateful to Helen Lynskey, Secretary at the Food Bank, for being our first willing 'volunteer' to tell us a bit about herself and how she became involved with BMFB. Look out for further interviews with our committee in future newsletters!

1. Tell us a bit about yourself.
I'm a Social Worker, now Commissioner, passionate about quality local non-profiteering services for people with learning disabilities and other vulnerabilities. I’m a (bewildered) mum of 2 small boys often to be found charging around various local parks chasing them on their bikes / scooters / surprisingly fast legs. I’m a Guide Leader and have a hoot with the dotty leaders who make me laugh until I cry and girls who inspire me. I’m a mental health survivor of postpartum psychosis, an acute condition that can suddenly occur after giving birth - and I link with Bradford’s specialist team and the charity APP to raise better awareness of this.

2. How did you first become involved with the Food Bank, and how have things changed since then?
I first became involved with BMFB in 2004 as I was a cook & team leader with Bradford Curry Project and knew Lashman [Singh, BMFB founder]. One day, he summonsed me to his living room and started describing his vision for reaching people who needed food but who couldn’t walk to the city centre to get it. He was concerned about children, families, hard to reach people across the entire Metropolitan District. I wrote down his vision and neither of us particularly ever stopped progressing the vision. He got a group of other skilful and interested people together and BMFB was born. We started with nothing - no money, premises or legal status or idea of how it might actually work. Back then, we thought the need was for a minority of people and hadn't anticipated what an incredible need there would later be for the charity. One thing that hasn't changed is that we have always been “grass roots” volunteer-run, proud to serve vulnerable people by distributing food through professionals working with them so that the root of their food poverty can be overcome.

3. What does your current role entail?
My current role of Secretary includes minuting meetings, filing the right things with the Charity Commission and the like, organising the Annual General Meeting and often coordinating the work of the committee. I sort out the charity’s policies with the committee and organise the forms such as volunteer forms and third party registration forms. I write lots of thank you letters to the generous Bradford public and I answer the questions that they ask through our website. Sometimes I give talks to interested groups, schools etc and I love it when I still get to pack a food bag and remember why I’m involved.

4. What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the Food Bank and its users?
I see the biggest challenge facing BMFB as being the financial crisis that was already happening and is escalating due to the pandemic. As more people and families are forced into poverty, the demand on the Food Bank will increase further. This will bring us a huge challenge as to how we can keep our volunteers Covid-safe whilst increasing our capacity to secure more food and pack more bags. Being able to buy food at reasonable cost in bulk is a challenge for us. Having regular small donations of money e.g. by direct debit / standing order is one of the best ways to support BMFB as it means we can budget better what we can afford to spend on food each month.

5. What is the most rewarding part of being a trustee of the Food Bank?
One of the most rewarding parts of being a Trustee is the heartening generosity that happens all the time from Bradford people. So many times I have been humbled by the steps ordinary people take to support us. This ranges from getting a lovely letter in the post from an older person who is giving the last £10 of their weekly pension, bereaved people who think of us when emptying their loved ones' kitchens, busy teachers who take the time to invite us into school and gather support for huge food collections, previous recipients of food parcels who bring in bags of food once they are back on their feet, artists who give their time to hold gigs to raise money, professional third party workers who distribute our bags holding fund raisers on their days off, business people and faith groups supporting us again and again and again and particularly children who use their pocket money or complete a challenge to get us money. Who couldn’t be humbled or uplifted by any of that?

Hand sanitiser partnership with Newport Industries

We are pleased to have worked with Anushka Patel and her team at Newport Industries to provide bottles of hand sanitiser to our partners who collect food bags. Many thanks! Anushka explains the background to the relationship:

During lockdown we spent a lot of time watching the news and seeing that the demand for food banks had increased. At the same time, our dad, who works in the chemical industry, was receiving multiple phone calls a day asking for specific components needed to make hand sanitisers. The price of the components had risen by tenfold, which then increased the prices of the hand sanitisers themselves. This led us to propose the idea of bringing in hand sanitisers and donating them to food banks and the people who need it most.

We wanted to be able to help those who had been hit the hardest by pandemic, especially those with large families, as well as individuals. We thought that if people were unable to pay for food then how were they meant to pay for sanitisers which would protect them against the virus. We focused our research to help as many people as we could in different communities. Therefore, we have also donated a large proportion of our stock to different religious groups and independent food banks. We anticipate that we will help over 35,000 people in 14 different cities by the end of this project, which will help the individuals themselves, and also aid to reduce spread of Covid-19.

About the Food Bank

Bradford Metropolitan Food Bank (BMFB) was set up in 2004, with Company status coming around 2006, followed by charitable status. Our objective has always been to alleviate poverty across the Bradford district through the provision of food to those in need. The Food Bank is run by a committee of volunteers.

In its first year, BMFB gave out 1500 bags of food. We now give out well over 1500 bags per month. 

Provision of Food
BMFB operates a system of providing food to those in need through registered partners. We are different from most other food banks in that we do not supply food directly.  The partners assess needs and collect packed bags of food from the Food Bank each week to give out to people to alleviate food poverty.
The amount of donated food is never enough to meet needs so BMFB also purchases food, using financial donations from individuals and organisations.
The content of each food bag is based upon advice from nutritionists.  We estimate that one food bag will supply one person for 3 days.   

If you are in need of a food parcel, please be aware we cannot give out parcels direct to individuals. Please ask any professional working with you eg teacher, minister, housing worker. Here is a list of places you can get free food in Bradford every day

https://wellspringstogether.org.uk/resources/bradford-meal-provision (we would recommend checking first given the changing situation caused by the Coronavirus pandemic).

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If you are a professional organisation already working with vulnerable people to support them overcome food poverty - and you need food bags from us - please fill in the contact form on our website. We will send you our process and ask you to complete a registration form.

How you can help