Sainsbury's Intake Local

We are a Peer Support Group established in 2010 to promote good mental health. We work across the borough of Doncaster and have a membership bas of over 700 Peer Supporters. Each person pledges to both give and receive support. We operate from The Wellness Centre which is open 6 days a week providing activities, learning opportunities and friendships. We also run The Safe Space which is 7 days a week crisis support. We are big on people having the opportunity to be a real part of their community and build meaningful connections. We have a food bank, mental health crisis support, many creative groups, fitness, music and so much more. Our philosophy is that everyone has skills and gifts to offer in their community and we are simply people helping people.

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).

We are based at Wharf House in Doncaster, which is a homeless hostel. Wharf House provides supported living for the homeless. The support is provided 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Wharf House has 30 residents who are able to stay for up to 6 months and we also have 4 emergency beds, which are always full and used by our Outreach team to quickly give someone a bed for the night if they're in need. Our Outreach team go on regular walks to carry out welfare checks on the homeless and identify anyone who would be suitable for the hostel. We also take referrals from Doncaster Council and various other organisations who work with the vulnerable .e.g. Starting Point. Once a resident is in the hostel, they will be assessed for their needs and referred to other services where appropriate. We work closely with all the services across Doncaster to meet the needs of our residents, most of which, have complex needs due to mental health or addiction. Our aim is to improve their quality of life by providing the right kind of support for the individual. Building up their self esteem and getting them back into their own property. Our residents are provided with a breakfast every day and some soup at tea time, which is included in the cost to stay at the hostel ( funded through Housing Benefit) but they need to purchase their own food for the other meals. Donations would be and are currently, distributed free of charge to help our residents to bridge that gap between pay days and enable us to hold Cook and Eat sessions more often with different ingredients to improve their health and living skills.