Premierline in the community: Morecambe Bay Foodbank

“We provide emergency food parcels for people in crisis. This can be for a wide range of people including those who have recently lost their job, people struggling with substance/gambling addiction, people leaving abusive relationships or other vulnerable people and families. At the moment we are seeing a lot of people struggling with the increased cost of living. This has impacted not only the amount of food parcels we distribute but it also negatively impacts food donations as people can’t afford to donate as much as they normally would.

Away from the core food distribution we’ve recently received funding for a pathfinder program which is focused on working with schools and families of children on free school meals. This is in its infancy, but we hope to implement some preventative measures to hopefully ease food poverty in Lancaster and Morecambe. The result of this project will be reviewed by The Trussell Trust and possibly be implemented nationally.”

“I’m a Trustee which is basically a director of a charity. My main role is assisting with decision making on the strategic direction of the Foodbank. I’m involved on our finance committee, which is in short, our group for making decisions on our finances and setting budgets. It’s not the most exciting role within the organisation but it is essential to make sure we can continue our service. We have four full time staff and a large group of volunteers, so I also get involved with HR related stuff from time to time. I occasionally help out with delivering food too if we’re short staffed.”

“The main thing for me is giving something back to the community and helping people who are going through a tough time. It’s hard to put into words what it’s like to visit someone who can’t afford food particularly if they have children, so being able to ease the pressure on them is very rewarding. We have grown significantly since the COVID pandemic and it has been enjoyable helping manage us go from a small operation, with one part time staff member working out of a church hall, to a large operation open five days a week, employing four full time members of staff and operating out of a large warehouse. I loosely worked out if we sold the food we distributed we’d turnover c. £3,000,000 – being part of the team that’s helped manage this growth has been very rewarding for me.”

“The most important thing would be to pick something you’re passionate about. It is volunteering so the reward comes from doing good for others as opposed to financial gain. Additionally make sure you have the time to commit to it!”