2023-03-31-accounts

Swansea East Side Food Bank A charity registered in England and Wales, number 1163300

Trustees Report 2022- 2023

Section A Reference and administration details

The name of the charity is SWANSEA EAST SIDE FOOD BANK

Registered number 1163300

The charity is based at Mount Zion Baptist Chapel 94 Mansel Road Bonymaen Swansea SA1 7JR

Section A Trustees at April 2022 – March 2023

David Edwards (Treasurer from April 2023)

Mandy Evans

Paul Lloyd

Christopher Lewis (Chair)

Ashley Mansell

Kath Parry

Milland Patel

Rachana Patel

Geoffrey Roberts

Lilli Stephenson

Section B

Structure, governance and management

As the charity is small and local, no formal training has been required for trustees as those who come forward have so far, been familiar with the role and induction takes place by working alongside those already in office.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has receded, we have resumed face to face meetings at roughly quarterly intervals. We have the means to resume remote meetings should te need arise.

Like many food banks, we work on referrals from support agencies. We find that service users still experience difficulty in obtaining referrals from support workers, this began with remote working in the pandemic. We continue to accept self-referrals but try to put applicants in touch with someone who can support their claim, having made lists of referral agencies for our own and a neighbouring council wards. The charity continues to be supported by donations of cash and goods from the local community, businesses and churches though with the cost of living crisis support has fallen off.

Risks Identified:

Heath and Safety : - procedures require:

• That anybody entering the building alone informs an appropriate person of their whereabouts;

• That a minimum of three trustees / volunteers must be on hand before applicants are served; when a support worker collects parcels, this can be relaxed. There is a very slight risk posed by service users, we have had an instance of a service user arriving while ‘stoned’ and being abusive.

• General health and safety matters are monitored;

• Insurance - the charity has enacted its own public liability insurance for operations and product.

• First Aid training for volunteers is planned, this will be provided through Family Foundation.

• Mount Zion Chapel is closing and there is no obvious alternative place from which the food bank can operate.

COVID-19 Arrangements

• We discontinued face-to-face services and replaced them with a ‘though the door’ system of distribution by timed appointment.

• We have kept the system of pre prepared food packages in place because it is more efficient and reduces the risk continuing risk of infection. Given the limited space in the building we thought it wise to keep precautions in place even as opening up progressed.

• We believe all of our volunteers are fully vaccinated and will encourage take up of boosters.

• We will respond appropriately if new waves of COVID pose a threat.

Data Protection

• No computerized records containing client or volunteer details are kept and such minimal paper records as are maintained for the currency of an applicant’s need are handled with care in use and kept under lock and key, so the risk of a data breach is low.

• Any published statistics are anonymized.

Food Allergies

• Service users are routinely asked if they have special dietary requirements. There may be some risk attached to ambient goods received from the Fareshare and Neighbourly charities. Allergy risks are normally indicated on packaging. If appropriate we advise clients to check for themselves.

Food Handling

• Our principal food handlers have food safety qualifications. In conjunction with Family Foundation more of our volunteers renewed or gained level 2 food hygiene certificates. Training is allowed for in budgets and we hope to resume this as the situation eases post pandemic.

Theft

• Thefts of food from food banks have been reported. Thanks to a donation by Glenn Davidson of ArtStation, we have an internal CCTV system working on a timed basis so that it does not record when the building is not in use in use, thereby protecting the identity of legitimate users.

Reputation

• We depend on the good will of our donors and for this reason we exercise care in giving assistance to discourage the abuse of our service or over dependence. Applicants referred frequently by a single or by more than one referee are reviewed and the referees contacted.

Section C Objectives and Activities

The object of the charity is to operate a food bank in the eastern part of Swansea.

The objective is achieved by gathering donations of foodstuffs and donations of cash. Foodstuffs are sorted, rotated and distributed to applicants referred by agencies (as above). Appropriate action is taken to dispose of any unfit or out of date foodstuffs to prevent their consumption.

Food stock is supplemented through the Fareshare and Neighbourly organisations redistributing supermarket surpluses.

Donations of cash are applied to running expenses (heat & light), food storage equipment (freezer, refrigerator and hygienic storage boxes), cleaning materials, stationery and printing and ‘topping up’ stock shortages. Restricted funds have been obtained and applied to specific expenses such as increased utility costs, some restricted funding may be obtained as a contribution to building improvements - such as making the building accessible for people of reduced mobility.

We consider that these activities are conducted with regard to the guidance of the Charity Commission on public benefit.

Additional Information on Objectives and Activities

The strength of the East Side Food Bank is its volunteer body. Though based at a Baptist Chapel, it is essentially a community activity and has harnessed the social capital of the by its open policy, skills, talents and expertise, experience of working in public office, common sense and good will.

Our volunteer team have over the years, evolved and efficient system of stock management and distribution. A great deal of attention is given to maintaining stock in good condition and its rotation with the disposal of any unfit stock. To reduce environmental impact, we sort recyclable waste.

Food banks are often referred to as a ‘sticking plaster’ measure. We have always tried to signpost people to help with the causes of their crisis. We continue to do this and are seeking to play a part on a wider effort towards the relief of poverty and community resilience.

Since the Welsh Arts Council Connect and Flourish grant (£150,000) in May 2022 the food bank has benefitted from tables made from recycled materials for sorting and distribution and the installation of a warm hub structure inside building by ArtStation. This has been available for our own trustee meetings, on occasion meetings between service users and support workers. Most recently it was the location for a pilot for outreach sessions for the Swansea University Law Clinic, publicised (among other means) through the food bank.

Offering debt advice through a third party organisation is agreed to be desirable. We understand that legislative changes may make basic debt advice easy to offer (i.e. not needing to be administered by certified advisers). We are monitoring developments.

The ArtStation / Natural Law project continues alongside our work and we have gained contacts through it. We have also had some fresh produce grown on the premises in the revived garden to distribute.

We were approached about being a conduit for help with energy costs but with limited human resources, were unable to follow this up. It also seemed that this may be moving outside our remit and is something that might better be a third party ‘bolt-on’ to support our primary objective.

The major issue facing us is the impending closure of the Baptist ‘cause’ (i.e. constituted association). We are working with the Natural Law Project partners and the holding trustees (the Baptist Union Corporation) on the best way of maintaining the building and site as a community asset since we have a serious shortage of community space in the ward. This shortage may be exacerbated by the proposed development of around 150 social hosing spaces on brownfield sites with further development on the locality possible.

Section D Achievements and Performance

• Demand on our food bank has increased further with the cost of living crisis.

• We have loyal donors both of goods and cash. Donations have fallen off and we are using cash to top-up by purchase, at the time of writing this is around £100 - £150 a week. Shortages are reviewed weekly.

• As always, the real achievement is to keep going and adapting all the time to changing circumstances. The dedication of our small team of volunteer, trustees and non trustees cannot be praised highly enough. Their bring knowledge, skills and life experience to what they do with a genuine concern for a functional and supportive community. We are inclusive, we have become to an extent, a multi racial, faiths and no faith group. This was always the aspiration. It is also appropriate that being based in a low super output area, recognised as significantly deprived area (Bonymaen 1 falling in the worst 10% in Swansea and Wales according to Welsh Government indices), that we do not operate a clear distinction between benefactors and beneficiaries in fact some of our service users have become some of our key volunteers wanting to ‘give back’. With this ‘localism’, we also have the ability, at the very least hinted at in the text of this report to call in resources and expertise from outside.

• Being ‘embedded’ in the community in this way seems to engender a sense of ownership by the community and it may make our operation more approachable for those who need our help and means for example, in the case of suspicious activity neighbours have ‘eyes on’ the building. We continue to receive appreciative feedback on the empathy of our team, the efficient organisation of our service and flexibility by which we can respond to some if not all emergencies.

• Inevitably, there is turnover in volunteers, we have tried to recruit to augment our team, particularly drivers to help with collections. We gained some committed and capable volunteers but could still do with more. People’s desire and will to help can sometimes be stifled by changes in circumstance and people with low incomes are particularly vulnerable when emergencies happen.

• Statistics are compiled monthly. We continue to feed into the citywide intelligence on how poverty is being tackled, though demands on our volunteers have made it impractical to provide the detail in anonymised analytics that we had previously provided.

Section E Financial Review

See Treasurer’ s Report.

Section F

Optional Information

As mentioned above, we are looking to the future despite the major setback that the impending closure of the Baptist cause poses. The vision of the Natural Law is create a hub for the community which will enable people to live sustainably, find support and cultural expression. The food bank will be a supporting part of this as long as it can be maintained. A major improvement would be to make the steeply sloping site as accessible. In last year’s report I observed that we would have ‘to be prepared for the possibility of future shocks in an environment of ‘permacrisis’. I would venture to suggest that this assessment has been has been far wrong but we remain hopeful and are seeking allies to try to advance not only the work of this small charity but also what is needed to lift people from crisis to a better quality of life.

Section G

Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees report above

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Trustee 1 Trustee 2 Signature G ROBERTS D EDWARDS Full name GEOFFREY ROBERTS DAVE EDWARDS Position Volunteer Volunteer Date 14 / 09/ 23 14/09/23

Swansea Eastside Foodbank

Final Annual Accounts 1st April 2022 – March 31[st] 2023

INCOME

Cash at 1st April 2022
Bank b/f			44,461.05
Petty Cash A/c			37.90
In hand			0.00
				44,498.95
Donations	Unrestricted funds
Corporate
Cash/Cheque	£6,008.45
Personal Cash/Cheque	£7,341.59
Donations in
memorium	£70.00
TOTAL UNRESTRICTED
INCOME	£13,420.04
Restricted Funding
Grants
Swansea Council
Household Support
Fund	£1,500.00
Swansea Council Food
Support Fund	£349.00
Swansea Council Period
Poverty Fund	£547.00
TOTAL RESTRICTED
INCOME	£2,396.00
TOTAL INCOME		£15,816.04
EXPENDITURE
Unrestricted
expenditure
Equipment	£1,656.12
Repairs/Renewals	£0.00
Utility costs to Chapel	£593.23
Supplies	£1,917.80

Grants to other
organisations		£0.00
Sundries		£261.26
Exp Sybil Crouch fund		£50.00
Phone charges		£117.96
Insurance		£243.57
Total unrestricted
expenditure			£4,839.94
Restricted Funding
Expenditure
Swansea council
Household Support
Fund
Utilities	337.29
Supplies	1162.71
		£1,500.00
Swansea Council Food
Support Fund
Equipment		£349.00
Swansea Council
Period Poverty Fund
Supplies		£547.00
Total restricted
expenditure			£2,396.00
TOTAL EXPENDITURE				£7,235.94
Net Inflow/(outflow) of
funds					8,580.10
Less cash in hand
Petty Cash A/c closed
and paid into bank
account Nov 2022					0.00
In Hand					0.00
Subtotal						8,580.10
Total in Bank 31 March
2023 (as per cash rec)							53,079.05
Total in Bank 31 March
2023 (actual c/f)							53,079.05

0.00

Difference

Note to the accounts:

Trustees have agreed to operate a reserve of £10,000.00 on the bank account. The bank account cannot drop below this level without the agreement of Trustees. This will ensure the Food Bank will have sufficient funds to continue to operate in the event of a reduction in donations and operate whilst trustees seek a solution to the funding issue

I confirm the above accounts provide an accurate record of Eastside Foodbank's financial transactions for the year 1[st] April 2022 – March 31[st] 2023

Signed

Ashley Mansell Date 14/09/23 Trustee

Personal Donations Commercial Donations