Redcar Area Foodbank is here to provide emergency food and support to anyone facing food poverty, whatever the reason for the crisis. That’s the message that this local charity wants everyone to be aware of.
Redcar Area Foodbank is part of local charity Footprints in the Community. They work with a wide range of local care professionals, who can all issue food vouchers to people in genuine crisis. Voucher holders include doctor’s surgeries, health visitors, social workers, housing providers, local Job Centres and Citizen’s Advice, as well as other local charities. Clients can then bring their voucher to a foodbank centre to exchange it for three-days’ emergency food. Foodbank centres can usually help clients a maximum of four times in a six-month period.
Trained volunteers currently run seven centres, all based in local churches across Redcar & Cleveland. There is a full list of foodbank centres on the website https://redcararea.foodbank.org.uk
Everyone who enters through the door is given a warm welcome and can be signposted to other agencies and Footprints’ projects who may be able to provide further help. One of these projects is Next Step Shop, which is a subsidised members’ shop and is often the ‘next step’ for foodbank clients.
To make it even 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.
If you would like to help support Redcar Area Foodbank, there are donation points for food and toiletries in most local supermarkets.
Helen Hedges, Foodbank Manager said, “We want to let people know that if they are struggling with food poverty, for whatever reason, they can be referred to Redcar Area Foodbank for help. We want to thank the public for their generous support of our project, which allows us to continue helping local people in crisis.”
