Helping those in need at Christmas and all year round: Hailsham Foodbank
As Friday 16 December was Christmas Jumper Day in aid of Hailsham Foodbank, Lucy Powderly had a conversation with manager, Julia Coates, to find out a little bit more about the work they do to help support local families.
L: So how did you actually find yourself working at the Foodbank as manager? Were you inspired by anyone?
J: Initially it was set up by the Crosslink Trust which is run by the churches in Hailsham, and I was a member of one of the churches, so I volunteered in the beginning, and then when the vacancy for manager came up I thought ‘I’d really like to do that’ so I applied for it, that’s how I became manager.
L: Have you been working there for very long?
J: I think it’s coming up about three years now.
L: And in those three years how has the Foodbank actually changed? Have you seen any changes yourself?
J: To be fair, the numbers haven’t varied as significantly as necessarily in different counties but we’ve definitely seen an increase in single people coming in. Half of the people that come in are single people, so we have seen that sort of change.
L: The Trussel Trust recently released a statement claiming that usage had reached a record high, so you haven’t really seen that increase in Hailsham Foodbank then?
J: No, but then partly that could be because we’ve seen an increase in single people. If we had families coming in, because each voucher can either be for one person or for a family of five people, you could have ten vouchers and that’s ten people, or you could have ten vouchers that would actually be 50 people, so it’s not necessarily we’re giving fewer vouchers, it’s just the people that have those vouchers are a lot of single people.
L: Why do you think usage has increased as a whole this year? Have you got a personal opinion on why this might be?
J: I have to say, not overly, I mean obviously there are lots of different things with benefits and things that are affecting some people, so most of the people who come to us are short term. That is actually one thing that’s changed, we did used to have quite a lot of people who we would see fairly regularly when I first took over, whereas now we’re seeing more different people but not seeing them for so long, which is good because that means that hopefully their problems are getting sorted out.
L: That must be one of the best parts of the job then.
J: Definitely.
L: What steps do you think should be taken to resolve the national foodbank crisis?
J: I don’t know. Some of it is definitely about the access people have to different benefits, so if somebody, for example, is made homeless or loses their job - there is sometimes a time in between whilst things are getting sorted or if benefits are swapping over - people can be completely without things then, so I think it’s when there’s a change in circumstances for people. People end up stuck in that waiting period because they haven’t got any back-up money. I think that’s probably the major problem.
L: What is the hardest part about your job?
J: To be perfectly honest, the hardest part about this job is seeing all the different needs we get in, and not physically having enough hours in the day to do something about them all. You look at the needs that you see as the most prominent ones and see if we can work towards them, because we’re obviously a charity, we don’t necessarily have a lot of finances to take projects forward, or volunteers.
L: Would you say you have quite a lot of luck with people donating, or is it quite hard?
J: To be fair, in Hailsham food-wise, it’s incredible; people are really, really generous, and local companies, schools and the churches and the community are really good at contributing. It’s a little harder on the money-side because we don’t have the resources at the moment to kind of push that forward, but food comes very easily.
L: What would you say is the best part?
J: Well the best part is just meeting the people who come in and getting to speak to them, and quite often you have people who come back just for a cup of coffee or to drop in and say hello to let you know they have sorted out their problems. It’s really just how grateful people are.
L: Do you think the Foodbank will see any significant changes in the next five years?
J: I think foodbanks as a whole are obviously not wanting to be there because they would like that problem not to exist, which is unfortunately not particularly likely, but they’re definitely trying to think outside. I mean, we do have these More Than Food projects, I don’t know whether you’ve looked on our website, but in summer, Easter and we do another one at Christmas, we run a project where we have families referred to us, and then we run a holiday club with meals and three days a week during the longer school holiday. I think the foodbanks are definitely looking to go that little bit further, so rather than just giving food parcels, seeing if they can give a little bit of help, or getting somebody into the foodbanks that could help or advise people, or putting on projects that help people , and so hopefully they won’t eventually need to use the foodbank.
L: What would you ideally like to see in your Foodbank for the future?
J: In our Foodbank, because we have so many single people, I would really like it if we could either work with somebody, or do something that specifically helps them. We get lots and lots of single men in lots of different situations - some are homeless, working or are living with mental health problems, and I would really like to be able to do something to impact those people and to help them in a way.
L: So how did you actually find yourself working at the Foodbank as manager? Were you inspired by anyone?
J: Initially it was set up by the Crosslink Trust which is run by the churches in Hailsham, and I was a member of one of the churches, so I volunteered in the beginning, and then when the vacancy for manager came up I thought ‘I’d really like to do that’ so I applied for it, that’s how I became manager.
L: Have you been working there for very long?
J: I think it’s coming up about three years now.
L: And in those three years how has the Foodbank actually changed? Have you seen any changes yourself?
J: To be fair, the numbers haven’t varied as significantly as necessarily in different counties but we’ve definitely seen an increase in single people coming in. Half of the people that come in are single people, so we have seen that sort of change.
L: The Trussel Trust recently released a statement claiming that usage had reached a record high, so you haven’t really seen that increase in Hailsham Foodbank then?
J: No, but then partly that could be because we’ve seen an increase in single people. If we had families coming in, because each voucher can either be for one person or for a family of five people, you could have ten vouchers and that’s ten people, or you could have ten vouchers that would actually be 50 people, so it’s not necessarily we’re giving fewer vouchers, it’s just the people that have those vouchers are a lot of single people.
L: Why do you think usage has increased as a whole this year? Have you got a personal opinion on why this might be?
J: I have to say, not overly, I mean obviously there are lots of different things with benefits and things that are affecting some people, so most of the people who come to us are short term. That is actually one thing that’s changed, we did used to have quite a lot of people who we would see fairly regularly when I first took over, whereas now we’re seeing more different people but not seeing them for so long, which is good because that means that hopefully their problems are getting sorted out.
L: That must be one of the best parts of the job then.
J: Definitely.
L: What steps do you think should be taken to resolve the national foodbank crisis?
J: I don’t know. Some of it is definitely about the access people have to different benefits, so if somebody, for example, is made homeless or loses their job - there is sometimes a time in between whilst things are getting sorted or if benefits are swapping over - people can be completely without things then, so I think it’s when there’s a change in circumstances for people. People end up stuck in that waiting period because they haven’t got any back-up money. I think that’s probably the major problem.
L: What is the hardest part about your job?
J: To be perfectly honest, the hardest part about this job is seeing all the different needs we get in, and not physically having enough hours in the day to do something about them all. You look at the needs that you see as the most prominent ones and see if we can work towards them, because we’re obviously a charity, we don’t necessarily have a lot of finances to take projects forward, or volunteers.
L: Would you say you have quite a lot of luck with people donating, or is it quite hard?
J: To be fair, in Hailsham food-wise, it’s incredible; people are really, really generous, and local companies, schools and the churches and the community are really good at contributing. It’s a little harder on the money-side because we don’t have the resources at the moment to kind of push that forward, but food comes very easily.
L: What would you say is the best part?
J: Well the best part is just meeting the people who come in and getting to speak to them, and quite often you have people who come back just for a cup of coffee or to drop in and say hello to let you know they have sorted out their problems. It’s really just how grateful people are.
L: Do you think the Foodbank will see any significant changes in the next five years?
J: I think foodbanks as a whole are obviously not wanting to be there because they would like that problem not to exist, which is unfortunately not particularly likely, but they’re definitely trying to think outside. I mean, we do have these More Than Food projects, I don’t know whether you’ve looked on our website, but in summer, Easter and we do another one at Christmas, we run a project where we have families referred to us, and then we run a holiday club with meals and three days a week during the longer school holiday. I think the foodbanks are definitely looking to go that little bit further, so rather than just giving food parcels, seeing if they can give a little bit of help, or getting somebody into the foodbanks that could help or advise people, or putting on projects that help people , and so hopefully they won’t eventually need to use the foodbank.
L: What would you ideally like to see in your Foodbank for the future?
J: In our Foodbank, because we have so many single people, I would really like it if we could either work with somebody, or do something that specifically helps them. We get lots and lots of single men in lots of different situations - some are homeless, working or are living with mental health problems, and I would really like to be able to do something to impact those people and to help them in a way.