The Black Country Foodbank is the third largest foodbank in the country. We visit to find out more.

Express & Star

Black Country Foodbank in Brierley Hill is huge and you may be suprised to hear some of the numbers of people they are helping feed.

Transcript

00:00So Jen, how are you? I'm good, thank you, yeah. So Black Country Food Bank. Yeah. How long have you

00:04been here now? So I've been here nearly 13 years. 13 years, wow, okay. So I mean, in terms of Black

00:13Country Food Banks around this area, let's just say food banks around this area, 13 years, that's

00:18got to be one of the longest? Yeah, probably. We've been around since 2006 though, so yeah,

00:25what's a bit depressing about that is that food banks have been around for such a long time. Yeah,

00:29so what's, just give us a bit of a, what's the landscape like now and over those 13 years? Has

00:36it kind of, has it been increasing demand? Has it gone up? Has it gone down? Where are we at with

00:40it Jen? Yeah, it's been a massive increase in demand, like a huge scary increase in demand

00:45actually. The numbers of people, families, children, individuals, couples, people in

00:53employment who are accessing our services has increased year on year. So what's, you've got

01:01people coming to you who've got jobs? Absolutely, yeah, yeah, absolutely, in employment and that

01:05could be low wages or just still not quite enough to meet the monthly costs. Yeah, and we've got

01:12these high rental costs, high energy costs, yeah. What kind of percentage of people coming through

01:20you are kind of from a migrant background? We've probably got about between five to ten percent

01:26of our users are from that background, yeah. And your users, do you find you'll have people coming

01:33perhaps once or twice or, you know, or are they coming for like, when you see someone they're

01:37coming for a few years? How does that work? Yeah, probably not a few years, but I'd say maybe a few

01:42weeks up to maybe months now and that has changed because it used to be crisis provision, so people

01:48would come maybe once or twice, but because the drop in income has decreased so much, people are

01:55having to use our services more regularly, so we're having to put more support around that to

02:01make sure that we're helping people get the best options and support that they can. And with that

02:06increase in demand over the years, how are you coping in terms of getting your supplying and

02:10donations? Yeah, it's been a real challenge actually, but we work really hard to keep

02:16donations coming in and we work with schools, we work with corporates, we work with churches,

02:22we work with lots of organisations to keep those donations coming in and we're very, very fortunate

02:28in that we've got some great relationships with lots of groups and organisations who help us

02:33regularly. Yeah, have you ever kind of tried to put a figure on how many, roughly how many,

02:37food banks and soup kitchens there are in the Black Country? I know it'd be impossible probably

02:42but have you got a rough idea, do you think? Well, just let me try and work it out. If I think

02:47we've got 28 food banks, you want to be times in that by three or four, I would suggest, if you

02:55think of the little pockets of groups that are maybe helping with hot dinners or, you know,

03:01cooking a meal or a hamper or whatever it is. Yeah, so, you know, probably 150 if not more, I imagine.

03:10I imagine whatever I guess it's more than that. Yeah, so, I mean, are you just thinking I don't

03:16see an end to the need, the demand? I'm thinking that there needs to be some acknowledgement from

03:23national sources that how deep the problem is. Yeah. Absolutely, I think we can do so much on a

03:30local level and I think we're doing that but I think the extent of the problem really needs to

03:36be acknowledged on a national level. Yeah, and if there's one thing in terms of the donations that's

03:41kind of the gold dust that you don't get much of, what would that be? That would be long life

03:47milk. Okay. Yeah, so it's cartons of long life milk. We never have enough because everybody needs it.

03:52Yeah. So it goes in everyone's parcel, so it's one thing that we... And how many people do you have on the

03:56ground? Are you helping and kind of doing what you do? Yeah, so we've got, here in the warehouse,

04:01we've got 35 volunteers. Wow. But across the organisation we've got over 300. That's crazy.

04:09It's incredible. I would have never guessed anywhere near that. Yeah. Well, hats off to all those guys.

04:14Yeah, and it's a massive sign of community pulling together. It's brilliant actually.

04:21So are you, in terms of a food bank then, with that scale, are you the largest kind of in the

04:26area, in the Black Country? Yeah, definitely. I think we're the third largest in the country.

04:30Wow. Yeah. Well, hats off to what you do and all the people you help. I mean, have you ever tried to

04:34quantify the numbers? Perhaps you help, you know, the amount of people per year or... Yeah, yeah, it's over

04:4020,000. Yeah, it's absolutely incredible. I mean, we normally look at it in terms of how many meals

04:46we provide because that's easier. Yeah. Because if we've got maybe somebody coming back a couple of times.

04:51Yeah. So if we looked at meals last year, it's over half a million and we're going to hit a similar

04:57figure this year. That's just crazy, Jen. That's blowing my mind, that is. And you're in your best

05:03togs. You're off to do a presentation in a bit, aren't you? This is all part of the role, isn't it?

05:07It is, it is. So you have to speak to some people. What's that all about? Yeah, that's right. Some social workers who are based in Dudley

05:14and we are going to meet with them to talk to them about the services we provide and how it's

05:20best that they can access our services for the people that they help and how we can work together

05:25to make sure that people are getting the best service. Probably not Foodbank. If we can help them

05:32to get some help before they need to use Foodbank, that would be brilliant. Well Jen, on behalf of the

05:37Express and Starb, absolute best of the Black Country U people here. Fantastic. Thank you, Jen.

05:42Thank you. Thank you. So guys, you've got the wagon here to do your deliveries. Is it just

05:48the one truck you've got, Jen? We've got three in total. We've got two here and one in Walsall.

05:53Yeah, cool. What have we got on board? Some stuff that's coming today. We've got some hot chocolate. This is

05:57great for this time of year, obviously because it's so freezing and it's an alternative to tea or coffee.

06:02We've got some jam and marmalade and other essential items. And who's this fine strapping chap

06:09with you? Ronnie can introduce himself. Ron. So I'm Ronnie and I'm the warehouse manager here.

06:14Hello, Ron. And we've got Paul. Yes, and I'm a volunteer. What do you get out of it then, lads?

06:21Volunteering. What is it? Is it kind of just doing your bit for the community? What is it? Definitely.

06:26It's really satisfying to know that you're helping other people. And Ron, you'd echo that?

06:31So I'm blessed. I get paid for my job, so I'm blessed. I put credit to the volunteers who come

06:37every day and do the work for our country. Yeah, well fantastic. You all do a great job here, guys.

06:42Well done. How are you doing, guys? This is a bit of a corporate visit, I understand. It is, yes. So which

06:48company do you represent? We're from the Tipton and Cowsley Building Society. Good old Tipton and Cowsley.

06:52Cool, we like them. So what's it all about then? So your company lets you kind of have a day

06:58release to go and do some good work in the community? Exactly that, yeah. They encourage all the

07:03staff to get involved in different volunteering throughout the year. And today we're helping out

07:09at the Black Country Food Bank. Is this your first experience of seeing a food bank? I think for all

07:15of us it is, yeah. It's an eye-opener, isn't it? I mean, I've seen a few through my job, but

07:20when you learn about the numbers that they're helping, yeah, and I think it would be,

07:26it's good and it would be important for more people to understand what's going on. Do you

07:30agree with that? Absolutely. Yeah. So what you're going to be doing today then? You're going to be

07:34lugging some stuff about in a bit, getting the muscles going? I think so. Keeley's just taking

07:38us on a tour and telling us what's going to be involved. Yeah. Lots of moving, labelling.

07:44Sorting out our donations and putting them away, all ready to be delivered out to the food banks.

07:50Well, well done Tipton and Kowsley guys. Thank you very much. Our pleasure.

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