Dear valued stakeholders, volunteers, trustees, donors, partners and supporters,
We hope this newsletter finds you in good spirits and health! It’s time for our quarterly update, where we share our latest news and express our heartfelt gratitude to all of you for championing our cause! Let’s dive right in! If you are reading online, you can subscribe to have our newsletter delivered to your inbox
The Prime of Life
Generous donor, Amazon Warehouse paid an epic visit to donate food supplies to us back in May, and their team of friendly staff helped to unload the contents of their Prime van! Thank you very much Amazon – it was a pleasure indeed to meet your wonderful team and show you around our humble warehouse! Your contributions have helped us immensely!
Oh My Gulliver’s!
Massive thanks to Gulliver’s Kingdom for hosting their annual Food Collection for us at their theme park in May. We extend our sincere thanks too to all staff and patrons who contributed on the day and for their kindness and support. Your contributions have made a significant impact, helping us reach more individuals in need.
Star of the Stage
This innovative company has generously provided us with some discount codes to assist individuals with bus fares when travelling from our foodbank centres. Following a successful trial, we are looking forward to continuing working with Stagecoach. Massive thanks to Stagecoach who led this thoughtful initiative and created an instruction booklet to “coach” us on how to use the app and discount code. This project’s impact cannot be overestimated; it will be hugely valuable to many foodbank users who would otherwise struggle to carry heavy foodbank parcels home on foot. Thank you!
Volunteers – the Lifeblood of Foodbanks
Volunteers are going above and beyond, investing their time, not only in serving the people of Chesterfield at the Warehouse and in our Foodbank Centres, but also behind the scenes too, building their knowledge and skills! Our ongoing training sessions, including inductions, warehouse visits and first aid courses have been enjoyed by many of our volunteers.
Special thanks to the British Red Cross for another fantastic First Aid training day on 28th July. Thanks to you and our brave participants, we now have 21 First Aid trained volunteers. Lifesavers, literally!
Tesco Summer Food Drive
A special thank you goes out to all our dedicated volunteers who participated in the Tesco Summer Food Drive on 28th-29th July. Your commitment to our cause and the time you spent collecting food items are deeply appreciated. Volunteers greeted customers enthusiastically as they arrived and showed them our shopping list. Thoughtful and kind shoppers who were able, paid homage to the famous Tesco slogan, “Every Little Helps” and came back to us after their shop to drop off items they had purchased for us. After the trolleys had been emptied, and the crates all stacked, the total food collected weighed in at a whopping 764kg which will help provide approximately 1800 meals. In addition to this, generous shoppers also donated cash totalling over £300! Huge thanks to Tesco and its customers for their continuous support and generosity. Special thanks to our Tesco Champion Jane, for always paving the way for us and for providing pre-filled donations bags!
A warm welcome
We’d like to wish a very warm welcome all the lovely new volunteers who have joined our ranks! We are sure you will find your volunteering experience with us rewarding and worthwhile! We’d also like to say a massive thank you and bid farewell to volunteers who have dedicated so much of their time to our foodbank and now moved on. Remember, you’ll always be a part of our foodbank family!
Racing ahead
Our London Marathon page on JustGiving is live! It’s a fantastic opportunity for those looking to make a difference while staying active. Whether you, or someone you know, is training for the London Marathon, which takes places in 2024, our JustGiving page contains helpful links for anyone wishing to set up a linked fundraising page. Every step taken will contribute to our efforts to combat hunger. Talk about going the extra mile!
Spelling it out
In preparation for the summer holidays, we’ve been working closely with schools to ensure vulnerable families will not go hungry over the summer. Schools can sign up with us to issue foodbank vouchers, and we’re making that process more straightforward than ever. We’re also ramping up our Harvest preparations, so that everyone has access to our Harvest Pack. Look out for our “You Name It” activity, which is a fun, downloadable activity sheet, which challenges you to spell out your name using foodbank donations! Our School Harvest Pack, which contains a Poster, Classroom Activity sheet and E-Voucher sign up information is now available online.
Serving the Community: Our Impact
Thanks to our amazing donors, partners, volunteers and supporters, we have served a significant number of individuals and families in need, providing them with much-needed nourishment and support. Your dedication and contributions have made this possible, and we continue to strive to ensure no-one goes hungry. So far this year, together we have fed 3,542 people (2,510 adults and 1,032 children). We’d also like to thank our partner Citizens Advice for their consistently diligent and quality service of support, advice and empowerment for our foodbank users.
Together we can end the need for foodbanks. Anyone wishing to support the “Guarantee Our Essentials” campaign can do so online
Acknowledging Support: Special Thanks
A heartfelt thank you to Ametek Land’s local staff, who continue to be an inspiration to us all for raising a whopping £630 through the Dronfield 10Km run. We deeply appreciate your collective efforts in supporting our cause!
Great Bear
We’d also like to extend our gratitude to Culina Group’s Great Bear for organizing the Charity Football Match on 16th July at Staveley Miners Welfare Football Club and raising funds through the raffle. Your contributions make a real difference in the lives of those we serve.
Lush
Cosmetics retailer Lush have very kindly sent us some toiletries! We knew the parcels were from you before we even opened the box because of the heavenly fragrance! Thanks so much for helping us to provide soaps and body-washes along with the other essentials in our emergency parcels.
10 Year Anniversary BBQ: A Decade of Service
On Sat 21st July, we marked the 10-year anniversary of our foodbank. To acknowledge this significant milestone and give thanks for the collective effort, which over a decade has helped us serve over 40,000 people in our community, we hosted a BBQ for our volunteers and their families. Special thanks to our Trustees for making this happen; Revd Daniel Cooke did a sizzling job on the BBQ and food and drink was served with style by Penny Hargreaves!
New Noticeboard: Stay Updated
Visit our website’s new noticeboard for the latest updates, events, and volunteer opportunities. It’s a great way to stay connected and engaged with our foodbank’s activities.
Thank you all for being an integral part of our mission to alleviate hunger and make a positive impact on the lives of others. Your support and dedication truly make a difference.
Wishing you a great summer!
With warm regards,
The Chesterfield Foodbank Team