B&Q Erdington

We are a small charitable community group based in Kingstanding, one of the more deprived areas of Birmingham. We provide support to families, the homeless, elderly and underprivileged members of our community. Our main project ' TiCs Food Parcels' is currently helping the vulnerable and those affected by the rising cost of living by providing community members with food parcels on a fortnightly basis. We collect and distibute surplus food donations and essential items from supermarkets, to help people in need. Our other projects include our Annual Boxing Day Meal, Homeless Shoe Box Project, Fun Days and other outside events. We also provide training and health workshops relevant to our community.

We provide Housing Support and Management Services to hundreds of Homeless and Mental Health service users all across Birmingham but continue to face more and more issues when it comes to making sure that the service users are having enough food to eat and more people are struggling to afford essential items like food, clothing and toiletries. Why we opened our own food bank? During the Covid-19 Pandemic foodbank usage tenfold and as an organisation we have been able to help the most vulnerable of our tenants during the most challenging of times. After seeing the challenges faced by our residents and the wider community to eat well on a challenging budget, with many stories from our service users of going hungry and struggling to access foodbanks, we decided to make a difference and do our part to start tackling hunger. We know there is always more to do and more people to help and we couldn't do that without the donations we receive from our partners such as Neighbourly and Toiletries Amnesty to receive donations from major supermarkets like Lidl and alongside self-funding further provisions to ensure we could meet a wide range of dietary requirements. We also receive donations from individuals and local businesses which we are so grateful for. “We are proud have been part the Neighbourly Project since 2017, who help us with donations of food and drink items. In 2019 we joined Toiletries Amnesty to further develop our service; they provide much needed toiletries for our service users”. What premises does your project operate from? Our foodbank operates from Vanguard Supported Housing CIC head office based at 23 Kenyon Street, jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, B18 6AR. How do we identify service users and their needs? All our service users are referred for housing through third party organisations such as Birmingham City Council Homeless Services, West Midlands Probation Services. Once accepted for housing they will be invited to attend an assessment and viewing appointment at our head office and at this stage any support goals will be discussed with our lead Assessor if needed any requests for food bank items such as bedding, personal hygiene products and food parcels be discussed and if warranted will be issued before the service user leaves to move into their new home. Support Workers from Vanguard or partner agencies are able to refer their service users to the food bank where our foodbank manager will support them to complete a foodbank referral form and budget form. Are there any other services provided by your organisation other than food support? Our organisation Vanguard Supported Housing CIC houses vulnerable adults in shared and supported accommodation. We provide person We are proud to say that all our services are offered free of charge to all our residents. . We also accept referrals for food parcels from our partner agencies such as Spring Housing and Guardian Housing.

MAGC aims to support vulnerable members of our community via an alternative way of giving. MAGC encourages members of the community to donate money via collection tins in local shops or online rather than giving money directly to those asking for change on the street. Grants can be applied for and given to support people - furnishing their new accommodation, travel or clothing for example. We also have a part-time Neighbourhood Outreach Worker working in Moseley identifying rough sleepers, people asking for money on the streets, people with drug and alcohol issues and people at the risk of homelessness offering advice and support.