What is the vision of your Organisation?
We believe that no food should go to waste – everyone should have access to fresh, healthy food. Our team works tirelessly to rescue good, surplus food so it can be shared with our community.
Why has your Organisation signed the ‘End Poverty Pledge’?
We signed the Pledge because we believe that no-one should be going hungry in our community, particularly when there is enough surplus food to go around.
What examples can you give of your Organisation putting the ‘End Poverty Pledge’ into practice?
- Our organisational strategy includes the aim of tackling poverty and the effects of poverty, by giving out surplus food to those who are in need.
- We work with schools to support families experiencing or at risk of financial hardship by offering food as well as taking part in assemblies, running eco clubs, attending parents’ evenings, writing in school newsletters, running parent forums etc.
- We examine the impact our organisation has on people who are experiencing financial hardship through our annual client survey.
- We pay all our staff above the levels of the National Living Wage.
- We have strong partnerships and are part of a wider network of organisations that is working together to tackle poverty and to reduce food waste in Surrey, such as Good Company, Stripey Stork, Dorking Foodbank, Clarion Housing, Leatherhead Community Hub, The Hygiene Bank, Schools etc.
- We make every effort to ensure that our service is accessible to everyone, regardless of their financial circumstances. This includes providing 16 locations around the mid-Surrey area to distribute food.
- Many of our service users have gone on to become volunteers for our organisation and gained enough confidence to be able to return to employment.
- We have signed up to ReferSurrey and try to signpost clients to additional support if they need it, via leaflets or by telling them about the Advice Café.
- When setting up a new location for distributing food, we consider the likely impact on service users who are in, or at risk of, poverty, e.g. schools, pop-up locations.
- We involve people with lived experience of poverty in providing feedback on our services through our annual survey and through volunteering opportunities.
- We offer courses to support our clients in financial hardship, such as slow-cooking courses.
What would you hope to be able to do more of in the longer term?
- We would like to increase referrals and signposting to additional support for our clients, if they need it. This may include signposting volunteers at the community fridge, referring them via ReferSurrey and increasing our presence at Advice Cafes.
- We will provide training for our frontline staff/volunteers to make them aware of the challenges and stigma facing people in financial hardship and how to minimise this.
- We would like to do more to involve people with lived experience of poverty in providing feedback on our services and helping to shape future policies and services, e.g. through school parent forums, gathering stories for grants and fundraising purposes.
- We will look into ideas around offering recipe cards, cooking videos and tastings to support families with cooking and reducing food waste.