Chesterfield Foodbank is a registered charity that was started in June 2013. It is a franchisee of the Trussell Trust, (1400 foodbanks across the UK) and provides emergency food packs for people in crisis. The foodbank has distribution centres at Brimington, Hasland, West Bars, New Whittington, and Loundsley Green, and we also serve the Hope Valley area. We have a warehouse at Sheepbridge and 2 vans.

Local agencies issue foodbank vouchers to people in crises who cannot afford to buy food. The agencies know the people and can best decide whether they need emergency food.

The people could be family, friends, neighbours and colleagues and include:

• Unemployed people seeking work

• Low paid, often part or full time workers

• People who are sick and people with special needs

• People recently discharged from hospital or other institutions

• Adults and children in difficult family situations

• People dealing with benefit changes

• School children on holiday and not receiving free school meals

The foodbank vans are used to transport donated food from drop bins in supermarkets, churches and libraries to our warehouse. Volunteers at the warehouse weigh and sort the food into groups and best before date order and store the sorted food in crates on pallets. The food is picked at the warehouse and delivered to the centres.

The people bring the vouchers to the foodbank centres and our centre volunteers give out the food packs. In addition to receiving the 3-day supply of emergency food, we also supply other essential items such as toiletries, sanitary items, nappies and pet food. The people using the foodbank are greeted warmly, offered a hot drink and a snack, and given the opportunity to find a listening ear and discuss their situation so our trained volunteers can signpost to agencies for specific help and advice.

Community impact

Our vision is for a future without the need for food banks. We are part of the Trussell Trust, who support a nationwide network of foodbanks and together we provide emergency food and support to people locked in poverty, and campaign for change to end the need for food banks in the UK.

The cost of living crisis has had a huge impact on the number of people needing to use our foodbanks. We are seeing an increased amount of families, and and increased amount of children needing help. More people are telling us they can't afford to heat their homes or pay their fuel bills. More people are telling us they need food supplies which they can cook using only a kettle or microwave as they can't use the hob/stove or oven. We need to be able to keep a constant supply of food and essentials such as toiletries, nappies, cleaning products as well as food suitable for people's needs and dietary requirements.

How we’ll spend the money raised

We will spend the money on our core running costs to ensure we keep our operation running, and keep a supply of food and essentials coming into the warehouse to be weighed, sorted, picked and packed for distribution at the centres via our delivery vans. Once the food is in our foodbank centres, we will be able to continue providing our warm welcomes, hot drinks and snacks, and our friendly volunteers will issue resources and signposting information. We also pro-actively signpost to our in-house Citizens Advice advisors, a service we really hope to be able to continue to provide; this service provides face-to-face help and advice for the people who need it, welfare benefit checks, income maximisation, debt advice, fuel voucher referrals, and lots of other specific advice to help people out of their current situation to help end the need to rely on foodbanks.

Your support in invaluable to us, thank you!