Newsletter Spring 2023

    

Spring has sprung! Welcome to our first Newsletter of 2023! We have said goodbye to winter as we witnessed the first snowdrop appear at our beautiful Hope Valley foodbank centre based at St Helen’s Church in Grindleford. As the people of our nation continue their struggles, battling the ever-worsening cost of living crisis, this pretty flower is aptly symbolic of hope and new beginnings, and reminds us to strive ahead with faith, determination and fortitude as we continue with our mission to end hunger and poverty.

If you would like to subscribe to future editions of our newsletter, please subscribe here

In this newsletter:

• Campaigns
• Donations
• Fantastic Partners
• Our Wonderful People
• Being A Trustee
• How Many People Have We Been Helping?

Campaigns

You may have seen on our Instagram that, since February, we have been busy promoting our AdLent Calendar Campaign. Participating organisations have been using the poster-chart which suggests a different foodbank item for each of the 40 days of Lent.

Special thanks to the volunteers at St Thomas’s Church who reached out to us to work together on this campaign, and to all the churches who graciously combined efforts.
Our Easter Egg Appeal has been championed by Nottingham Building Society who sent in an Eggcellent delivery of Easter Eggs for us to pass on to families this Easter! Thank you!

Donations

During March, following one of our induction sessions, one of our amazing volunteers at our Hasland Centre sourced and donated 150 mini colouring books and crayons for the children of foodbank users to enjoy when they visit our Chesterfield Foodbank centres. These have been well received by all and we received a message from Yvonne at the Loundsley Green Centre: “Thanks to the person from Hasland who sent crayons and colouring books .. much appreciated by three little munchkins today who sat in our children’s area! Bless you!”

Hasland Baptist church have been immersed in the Easter Egg Appeal and AdLent calendar Campaigns. As our Hasland foodbank session takes place in the evening, it’s always a sight for sore eyes when donations of such epic proportions are brought through the doors, come rain or shine, with such a glad heart, bringing hope and cheer. Thank you!

Imagine how excited we were to receive a “boost” on our Crowdfunder campaign from the Co-Op! This has meant that for every £1 donated, Co-Op has matched the donation like-for-like up to £250 per transaction! Although the match funding has now ended, the Crowdfunder is still live and can be found here.
Thank you very much to everyone who sent in donations via the Crowdfunder to help us reach our primary target!

Fantastic Partners

AMETEK Land (Land Instruments) is a manufacturer of industrial thermometers and they have turned up the heat at their Dronfield premises, with an amazing collection of Food and Essentials from the Adlent Calendar campaign. Read their press release here

We are thrilled to be able to welcome Great Bear Markham Vale 2 and Ametek Land on board as Partners of Chesterfield Foodbank. Great Bear, a logistics firm based at Markham Vale, set a “grizzly” challenge for their employee teams to compete with each other to fill donation boxes over the Lent period.

Our Wonderful People

We are very sorry to say goodbye to Yvonne and Ian Birchmore, original founders of the Chesterfield Foodbank, who have now retired from managing the Loundsley Green foodbank centre. We are indebted with gratitude for their service to the Chesterfield Community. Their commitment and dedication was honoured and celebrated at a Retirement Fuddle held on 17th March at the Loundsley Green Community Centre. They were joined by members of the Loundsley Green volunteering team and Trustees Sarah Menzies, John Roberts and Penny Hargreaves, who delivered a moving speech and presented the devoted couple with a parting gift of a planter engraved with a keepsake message of gratitude for their commitment. Cards and other gifts were also presented along with a delicious cake made by one of our talented volunteers.

Volunteers

We have had a busy recruitment phase since January, and have welcomed new team members at our foodbank centres at Brimington, Hasland, Compass town centre, as well as New Whittington, Loundsley Green and Hope Valley. Please join us in extending a warm welcome as our newcomers learn the ropes and settle into their new roles. Volunteers are going above and beyond, not only giving their time week in-week out at the foodbank centres and in the warehouse, but also giving up extra time for meetings, and training sessions. The dedication and commitment we see on a daily basis is no less than incredible, and truly inspirational. Sincere thanks to all our volunteers, without whom we could not operate. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, you can now apply here

Being a Trustee

Penny Hargreaves

I was initially invited to think about joining Chesterfield Foodbank in the autumn of 2019 and eventually started at the Spire Café distribution centre in January 2020 making coffee to welcome clients. I can’t bear to think of people going hungry, being homeless or in a desperate crisis situation. Those early weeks were an eye opener for me, and I soon became committed to being part of the Wednesday team. Then COVID happened!
Throughout the long pandemic, and since, I felt fortunate to be able to work sorting the generous food donations at the warehouse and at distribution centres too. I still feel quite humbled after a busy session but grateful that I can contribute to helping people & families in genuine need.
I was appointed a Trustee in August 2020. Having retired after 40 + years in education in the Creative Industries & Event Management, it was the right time for me to do as much as I could for the food bank. As a Trustee I slipped into fulfilling our statutory commitments & duties such as writing the Trustee Report’s for the Charity Commission & supporting our FB managers during the rapid & incremental growth in demand across Chesterfield.
At the heart of it , I’m a ‘people person’ and count myself lucky to have met so many people from so many different backgrounds; I love it and am passionate about ensuring that no one goes hungry in our communities.

How Many People Have We Been Helping?
So far this year, thanks to the remarkable kindness of volunteers and the generosity of donors, we have been able to feed 2050 adults, and 864 children totalling 2914 people altogether from 1st January to 31st March 2023. This compares to the same period last year: 1462 adults 439 children totalling 1901 people, a shocking 53% increase.

Thank you for your support for Chesterfield Foodbank and for subscribing to our newsletter. It means the world to us to have such dedicated volunteers, donors and supporters in the wider community. Your contributions, efforts, donations, and kind words of encouragement spur us on as we continue with our mission to ensure no-one goes hungry.
If you would like to contribute to the next edition of the newsletter, please get in touch: [email protected]

If you would like to subscribe to future editions of our newsletter, please subscribe here

Back to News