18th August
Upcoming Webinars:
· 28th September, 3.30pm-5pm – What next for affordable food provision? Collective food purchasing and warehousing for local food networks. You can sign up to attend or to receive a copy of the recording here.
· 26th October, 3.30pm-5pm – What next for affordable food provision? Addressing accessibility with mobile affordable food clubs. You can sign up to attend or to receive a copy of the recording here.
· 23rd November, 3.30pm-5pm – What next for affordable food provision? The role of Housing Associations. You can sign up to attend or to receive a copy of the recording here.
Webinar Recordings:
If you missed our webinars that took place in June and July, you can watch the recordings below. Please feel free to share these with anyone you think might find them useful.
· Foodbank to food club - using subsidies and vouchers to support people into food clubs (22nd June) – You can view the recording here.
· Webinar with the Money and Pensions Service on the Money Guiders Programme. Preparing for summer holiday programmes of food and fun (13th July) – You can view the recording here. If you would like to sign up for the Money Guiders programme, through Feeding Britain, please complete this short form or you can find out more about signing up as a programme partner for Money Guiders separately to Feeding Britain here. Please see the email I sent on 24th July for further details.
Feeding Britain Podcast Episode Five: We have released a 3-part special episode on our podcast this month, taken from our recent webinar on food banks opening affordable food clubs either in place of, or in addition to, their existing crisis provision. Our speakers include Nic from Focus4Hope in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, John from the West End Food Bank in Newcastle, Louisa from Milton Keynes Food Bank, Robert from Bassetlaw Food Bank, Nina from Sufra North West London in Brent, and Stephen from Newark and Tuxford Food Bank. In the episode, they each share their reasons for initiating the shift to affordable food provision as well as their experiences in bringing this to fruition. They also discuss the impact this has had in reducing the long-term need for emergency food parcels as well as the transformative effect it has had on communities. You can listen to the episode on all major streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple, and Amazon. In addition, we will also be publishing an episode with Dr Megan Blake on the Food Ladders Approach later in August. Please do check it out and let us know what you think!
Affordable Food Club Model Brochure: We are still taking requests for printed copies of our brochure on the Affordable Food Club model. If you would like to request printed copies, please complete this form.
The Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service: The Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service (HLPAS) has launched this month across England and Wales. HLPAS is a government funded (legal aid) scheme, providing free legal advice and representation to people facing the loss of their home. To access this support, people will need to provide a HLPAS advisor with evidence that someone is seeking possession of their home. The HLPAS advisor can then provide legal advice on how the person might improve their situation. This advice could help the person to prevent the loss of their home. More information on HLPAS, including a link to a directory of providers, can be found here whilst the attached leaflet can be shared.
NHS Healthy Start Scheme August Updates:
- Uptake data for the NHS Healthy Start scheme for July 2023 is now on the NHS Healthy Start website. Uptake in July was 64.3% across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. You can find the data, broken down by local authority and national level on the NHS Healthy Start website.
- The NHS Healthy Start Scheme Communications Toolkit has now been updated to include new materials in Welsh, Slovak, Somali, Spanish, Ukrainian, Polish, and Romanian.
- This month, the Oxfordshire County Council public health team have shared a case study about their multi-agency approach to improving scheme uptake. It shows how libraries across the county are promoting NHS Healthy Start to customers and helping local people to access the scheme. If you would like to share the work you are doing to drive uptake in your area, the NHS Healthy Start Scheme would like to hear from you. Please contact them at communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk
- The NHS Healthy Start Scheme ‘User Research Team' is looking for volunteers. They are interested in speaking to healthcare professionals, charities, local authorities and retailers. If you are interested, you can find out more here.
Food Supplies: The Country Food Trust produces and distributes nutritious, protein-rich meals to charities, food banks, and community kitchens across the UK.
Their products include:
- Free Range Pheasant Casserole – a nutritious and warming casserole
- Free Range Pheasant Curry – a mildly spicy curry
- Wild Venison Bolognese – a rich and tasty venison ragu
Register your interest in receiving meals from The Country Food Trust via this form.
Research Paper: This study was carried out into the potential of charitable alternative food networks (ANFs), specifically community markets, as a complementary solution to existing food aid efforts in response to food insecurity. Ultimately, the paper argues that community markets offer a more sustainable and empowering approach to addressing food insecurity by addressing its underlying causes and promoting community resilience.
Sharing Good Practice: Chair of the Feeding Britain Academic Advisory Group, Professor Greta Defeyter, has shared an evaluation of a new approach, implemented by Newcastle City Council and Newcastle West End Foodbank, to tackle financial exclusion, homelessness and safeguarding risks. Due to its positive impact, with co-located services successfully resolving a number of underlying issues presented at the Foodbank, the project has been funded for another 12 months with many findings that would be applicable to others. Please read the attached document for further information.
Matched Funding: Crowdfunder is currently offering a Cost of Living Emergency Fund in which they will match a crowdfunding project of up to £5,000 for projects that are tackling food poverty caused or accelerated by the cost of living crisis. This includes those running a food bank, community kitchen, school meals programme, community fridge, food parcel scheme, or generally helping to tackle food poverty in their community. For full eligibility criteria and to apply, please see this link. Please note the funds are distributed on a first come first served basis and you need a crowdfunding project to apply.