Food banks are the life blood of Middlesbrough’s most deprived communities. However, what people may not know is that the services that food banks provide go beyond emergency supplies.
Food banks deploy a practice called ‘sign posting’ which involves getting people in contact with agencies.
Tracey Godfrey-Harrison, project manager with Trussell Trust, said:
“ We have a list of different agencies and help in Middlesbrough.
“Volunteers who are sign posters can point clients in the right direction if there’s drug misuse, alcohol misuse or any other form of addiction. We can put them in touch with the right people and get them the right support.
“We make phone calls on their behalf and make sure that they’re filling in forms correctly. We make sure that they’ve got the right benefits in place.
“It’s about giving them that extra support when they’re here. If someone’s got a debt problem, we have a debt advisor in Joanne.
“She works with our clients and is able to sometimes get debt written off for them. It’s about us just going that extra mile, not just giving food, but signposting people in the right direction of where they need to be.”
Joanne Vernon-Cook, debt advisor with Trussell Trust, said: “At the debt advice service, we have like a holistic approach to people’s needs. We can signpost to loads of different like services out there. We have quite challenging and complex people that come to see us, as you can imagine.
“I can name a few examples of organisations that you’d signpost people to.
“There’s the drug and alcohol services. We send people to the Salvation Army. We send people to harm minimization services. There’s also eco shops within the Salvation Army. We signpost people rather than trying to rely on the food banks.
“It’s that’s all about the dignity because with a lot of people, they feel really embarrassed when they come to a food bank.”
Mark Gibson, user of St Barnabas food bank said: “Being able to talk to the volunteers is really important. It really lifts people’s moods. The volunteers are lovely.
“It is under resourced, which is a shame. I’m grateful for what the food bank has provided me.”
In terms of using food banks, Mark said: “It takes a lot of courage to come to a food bank. There is still a stigma about it.”
For more information on food banks go to https://www.trussell.org.uk/
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