South Derbyshire Food Store

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South Derbyshire Food Store

It was following a discussion between myself and Paul Laffey, Director of the Burton-on-Trent YMCA, back in June 2008 that the idea of a South Derbyshire Food Store was conceived On the other side of the Trent a Burton-on-Trent Food Store, supported by the Churches in that part of Staffordshire, and organised by the YMCA had been in existence for four years, and it had been noticed that people in need in South Derbyshire were beginning to use this service.

After contacting 19 Churches in South Derbyshire, everyone agreed to be involved, some joining together as one Church. Every 13 months therefore, each Church group receives a ‘shopping list’ from the YMCA and collects the food items requested. At first storage was a problem, but thankfully the Swadlincote CVS now store, pack and distribute the food parcels

A number of people have asked how the scheme operates and find it difficult to believe that there is a need for such a service in South Derbyshire. The ‘Food Store’ is there to meet genuine, urgent needs that can arise because of varying circumstances within a family or by a single person. The scheme is strictly monitored by the YMCA and the CVS, and each family or single person can only receive 4 food parcels in any one year and these contain enough essential items for a 2 day period. At the present time on average 2 or 3 food parcels are being distributed each week, but this number increases at times like Christmas.. Those in need are referred to the Swadlincote CVS by various local agencies or hear about the scheme ‘by word of mouth’ from other people in similar circumstances.

Sometimes it is a delicate balance to prove that those who request food parcels are genuinely in need and so they are given help on trust. Since the Swadlincote Food Store started in May 2009 it has become obvious that there is a need for such a scheme in South Derbyshire and the number of requests continues to grow.

The Burton-on-Trent YMCA wishes to thank all the Churches participating in the scheme for their on going support.

Denis Barratt