Charity Tandem Skydive with Gloucester Foodbank 

We are a faith based charity that provides emergency food parcels (i.e. 10 nutritious meals) to local people in crisis via a voucher system. The vouchers are issued by 63 agencies across Gloucester. They range from Age UK, Children’s Centres, Primary schools, to The Royal British Legion. The parcels made up of non-perishable items are given free of charge to individuals and families who lack funds to buy food. The lack of funds has many causes such as the sudden onset of sickness, bereavement or loss of employment.

Nationally, 1 in 5 low income families report skipping meals and children living in single parent families are twice as likely to go without food. Many of our clients are referred to us because of family breakdown. For example, a father was referred to the Foodbank as the mother had left the family home. Unable to work because one of his children had a severe disability he had sold many items including some of the children’s’ toys to make ends meet. Any benefits such as Child Benefit and D.L.A for the disabled child had stopped. Eventually, he ran out of money and things to sell to raise funds. We were able to ensure that his children and he had enough food for 3 days while the agency helped him to sort out his finances.
The Adult Social Care Unit in Gloucester Royal Hospital has requested food parcels for some patients mostly elderly about to be discharged. In another case a Carer rang on behalf of a terminally ill patient who no longer able to work and had run out of money after paying the bills. We were able to supply the patient with an emergency food parcel adapted to suit the dietary needs.

Food is donated by the people of Gloucester via Supermarket Collections, Schools and churches at Harvest Festival time. Some companies will do an occasional collection. At Christmas organisations and individuals will bring in food. Over 21 churches and some individuals donate to us on a regular basis throughout the year.

We are run by volunteers and one part-time paid manager. Our volunteers are mostly people who have retired or work part time, including 2 people with learning disabilities.

We need funds to cWe need funds to continue to further develop the service empowering more volunteers thus enabling us to collect more food and expand to meet current and growing demands from local people in crisis. If you wish to know more about the charity:

Web address: www.food-bank.org.uk
E-mail: info@food-bank.org.uk
Tel: 01452 309683
Charity No: 1113515