ALDI NEWTOWN

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.

RCCG Salvation Theatre Outreach Soup Kitchen started delivering food services on 17th October, 2020. Borne out of the pandemic. We are located in a strategic locality and an under privileged neigbourhood and environment. Throughout the year, we work tirelessly to make sure that we support all our guests with food of different kinds. Catering for impoverish families with Young Children, Youths, Homeless, Ex-offenders, Abused Victims, Asylum Seekers and Refugees etc. Successes/Achievements From a modest projection of feeding 30 persons at the cost of £5.00 per head at the beginning, we have steadily grown to 0ver 100 – 120 guests weekly at a little higher cost due to the impact of the cost of living crisis. Our growth rate is over a 100% and the challenges of meeting the food need of our guests is ever increasing. We are able to take collections/donations from most parts of Birmingham.

Our cause is to feed the homeless, the vulnerable and whosoever needs help. For years, we use to go out on a weekly basis to feed the homeless in the City Centre. There were some extremely cold nights. We had asked the Homeless and the Vulnerable to come to us to eat and enjoy our safe, warm space. We had started this in July 2023 and every week the numbers are increasing. Not only do they enjoy our food as it’s cooked and prepared with love, our Service Users also bask in our warm space and enjoy chatting to each other and to our volunteers. Not only do they love to natter, they also have the liberty of making loads of tea/coffee and having biscuits. At Christmas, we use to collect them from the Bus stop at Carrs Lane Birmingham City Centre and bring them to have their annual Christmas party. Last year, they will be making their way to us to have their annual lovely Christmas meal, presents, clothing and toiletries. We also run food banks twice a week where we serve the Community, vulnerable Adults and the Homeless. We are there for the Community and even in Summer we had run “snack & chat” for a couple of months where we had invited our neighbours to come for coffee and a light snack. The neighbours welcomed that gesture and suggested that we should continue to do it on a yearly basis. We thoroughly enjoy supporting the homeless, the vulnerable, our neighbours and the Community. We are based in Aston which is one of the deprived areas in Birmingham.