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Some thoughts on being a foodbank volunteer right now. Will try and thread this...
Week 3 of the COVID wave. We knew it was going to be bad because the Friday before lockdown we were already delivering to people that had lost their jobs: the impact was that instant 1/15
Week 3 of the COVID wave. We knew it was going to be bad because the Friday before lockdown we were already delivering to people that had lost their jobs: the impact was that instant 1/15
It& #39;s affected our volunteers - some have lost jobs or work has disappeared as they& #39;re self-employed. Some can no longer volunteer as they are over 70 or in a vulnerable group (huge shout out to those inspirational folk, they are so youthful we didn& #39;t know they were over 70!) 2/15
We& #39;ve gone from 3 mornings a well plus adhoc evening deliveries to delivering twice a day Mon-Fri to cope with the volume of referrals. On average its 100-120 foodbags delivered each week - this week we& #39;re about to break the 200 barrier 3/15
It& #39;s like Christmas every day - and not in a joyful way, just that the numbers we are doing are as high as our busiest period of Christmas week. Except we& #39;re not delivering extra treats just a small lifeline to help people hold on 4/15
We& #39;re doing this with fewer volunteers because of social distancing - and they are working extra hard to make up enough bags in every shift. I want to hug everyone for their kindness, their care - but instead we stand a trolley length apart, wearing gloves and sanitiser 5/15
We& #39;ve always delivered so we it& #39;s no change for us (unlike a lot of foodbanks), but our drivers now do contactless delivery. Yes, it& #39;s Knock Down Ginger - and they can see how emotional it is for our clients who put their hands to their hearts and mouth thank you 6/15
Who say: "I want to give you a big hug but I know I can& #39;t". Who said to one driver this week: "I can& #39;t believe you are doing this when we are all affected". It& #39;s hard for our lovely drivers to see people in need who never once thought they would be in this position 7/15
But people are wonderful. The support and kindness out there is overwhelming. Food donations have dropped but people are donating money instead, which is fab as we can now get access to bulk stock to replace our dwindling supplies. It& #39;s also faster to process - yippee! 8/15
And so many people wanting to help - at the moment @NourishFoodbank only needs drivers with enhanced DBS checks, but it& #39;s still heartwarming to see so many thinking of others 9/15
We are now part of @TWellsCouncil& #39;s COVID response group - thanks to our force of nature operations manager @Daylite648. In every war film there& #39;s a leader that says: "no man left behind". That& #39;s our Dawn - and on a personal level advising on support and benefits 10/15
And a shout out to @TWellsCouncil who are doing a bang up job in repurposing all it is doing for something they have never had to deal with before - thanks to their team for all the support they are giving us and other charities behind the scenes too 11/15
COVID shows there is no & #39;them& #39; and & #39;us& #39; - the line between being OK is very, very thin and COVID has exposed that faultline running through our society. It& #39;s going to take people a lot longer to get back to normal after this - but @NourishFoodbank is here to support them 12/15
So please, once this extraordinary time is over, please remember your local foodbank. We are here for everyone& #39;s life changing event, everyone& #39;s personal coronavirus, for 365 days a year (or 366 this year - or the 8245 days it feels like right now) 13/15
Because one day it might be you that becomes a & #39;them& #39; -someone that needs a foodbank. We are all a lot closer to it that we would ever be comfortable in admitting 14/15
If you want to donate to @NourishFoodbank click here - you can do one-off donations or regular giving. If you already do donate food or money - then a million thank yous, you have no idea the profound difference you are making, but you really are 15/15
https://www.nourishcommunityfoodbank.org.uk/coronavirus/ ">https://www.nourishcommunityfoodbank.org.uk/coronavir...
https://www.nourishcommunityfoodbank.org.uk/coronavirus/ ">https://www.nourishcommunityfoodbank.org.uk/coronavir...
