Redcar Area Foodbank has recently opened a new Foodbank centre at Saltburn’s Emmanuel Church (in the Echo Church Hall). The foodbank opened its doors at the beginning of November and now runs every Tuesday afternoon from 12.30pm until 2.30pm.
Redcar Area Foodbank is part of a nationwide network of foodbanks, supported by The Trussell Trust and sharing their procedures and best practice. It also benefits from being part of Footprints in the Community, a local umbrella charity tackling poverty and isolation in Redcar and surrounding areas.
Saltburn and the East Cleveland area have been covered by Redcar Area Foodbank since it was established over seven years ago and more recently they have run a centre in a different venue in Saltburn. However the central location and more convenient opening times of the new Emmanuel Church foodbank centre will be much easier for people to access.
Redcar Area Foodbank works with a wide range of local care professionals, such as doctors, health visitors, social workers and other charities, to help identify people in genuine crisis and issue them with a foodbank voucher or E-referral. Clients can then bring their voucher to any of the network’s foodbank centres where it can be redeemed for three-days’ emergency food. Up to four vouchers can be redeemed in any six-month period.
To make it easier for people to get access to a voucher, Redcar Area Foodbank is currently rolling-out a new E-referral system, where agencies can refer their clients for help online. This will slowly replace the current paper voucher system.
Although Coronavirus has changed how foodbank centres operate, every client who visits the new centre will be given a warm welcome by their dedicated team of volunteers. They can be signposted to other agencies and projects who provide help to people in crisis. Redcar Area Foodbank are happy to work alongside other independent foodbanks and charities in Saltburn to ensure local people receive the support they need. Members of the public can make donations of food and toiletries for Redcar Area Foodbank in Saltburn at Sainsbury’s, the Spar (Windsor Road) and at Emmanuel Church.
Redcar Area Foodbank Manager, Helen Hedges, said, ‘As part of Footprints in the Community, Redcar Area Foodbank is dedicated to reducing poverty in Redcar and East Cleveland. We are expecting the coming months to be busier than ever, so we are grateful for the partnership with Emmanuel Church which will ensure that as many people as possible have access to our foodbank centres in Saltburn and nearby villages’.
