M&S Wheatley Hall Rd

BME United is a not-for-profit social enterprise situate and operating in Doncaster to advocate the rights of ethnic’s minorities and empower families from ethnic minorities in Doncaster. We do this through our collaborative work with DMBC, partners and stakeholders. In June 2020, we opened our Food Bank following the impact of the Covid- 19 and the highlights of Public Health England and BAME Need Assessment with BAME community members being disproportionately affected by the impact of the Covid -19 because of poverty and some other inequalities. Consequently, there is a need for us to supply food to families from the BAME community who would not otherwise attend regular food banks because of religious and cultural barriers. We have successfully operated our open door and referral food bank once weekly for the past year at our centre on 56-58 Beckett Road, DN2 4AJ. Due to the surge in demand for supplying food to over 30-40 families weekly, we are looking to ask if we can benefit from your surplus food scheme. Our Community Foodbank, a health and well-being group and empowerment centre has had a motivational conversation by encouraging community participation during the pandemic, We are a coordinated team of at least 8 volunteers at the food bank. This involves spotting potential volunteers, following up and finding out how they would like to be involved and accounting for the fluidity of availability that always accompanies voluntary work. Although we are set up to advocate and support families and individuals from the BAME Community, we operate an open-door policy as there is a surge in demand due to the impact of Covid- 19 on several families income irrespective of their race, gender or religion, therefore we are serving a diverse range of communities in Doncaster. Reaching and supporting those who are isolated through the food bank has been a major focus of our work during the pandemic though it would be too much to claim we found everybody isolation is almost by definition difficult to track down. Our extensive links via the food bank network with Doncaster Council, Food Aware CIC and other stakeholders is an aid to helping others access support. We are deeply embedded in our community and have been working during the pandemic to support a large and continually changing group of the financially and physically vulnerable referred to us from a wide variety of sources including various Doncaster council departments, other support workers, schools, private individuals, and our own knowledge. This has given us extensive knowledge of the community and especially many of the most vulnerable and many who have been isolating (and may therefore have become socially isolated).

The Community Hub and Food Bank has approximately 25to 45 service users each week and also do emergencies for people who are suffering with food poverty due to the cost of living crisis. Our volunteers try to supply a good balanced diet with donations of foods from food donation partnerships and the general public. Food poverty can have a detrimental effect on mental health and health in general, sometimes a cup of tea and a biscuit together with a warm friendly environment is the beginning of finding out the problems that our service users are experiencing, we then can sign post to the relevant agencies. Our volunteers work tirelessly to help those in need including the homeless in our area, many successful outcomes have come about because we listen and help.

Food AWARE CIC was established in 2008 in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. AWARE stands for 'Alternative to Waste And Re-use Enterprise). We currently work with over 50 community-based organisations across South Yorkshire (largely located in Doncaster and Rotherham areas). We collect/receive edible surplus food made available to us via local supermarkets, farms, wholesalers, food discounters, allotments, donations etc and redistribute to those in need via trusted local community partners e.g. churches, foodbanks, soup kitchens, luncheon clubs, youth cafes etc. We also educate on food labelling e.g. 'Best Before' vs 'Use By' dates, Eat Well Plate, Love Food Hate Waste, Change4Life etc. We provide numerous training and volunteering opportunities e.g. drivers, warehouse operatives, administration, foodbank volunteers etc. Our motto is #FeedPeopleNotLandfill!