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BREAKFAST WITH CHAMPIONS

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MY KIND OF SUNDAY

MY KIND OF SUNDAY

“I wasn’t aware of the extent of work that food banks do”

Asda community champion Emma Riley catches up with St Austell Food Bank manager Andy Payne over breakfast

WORDS JESSICA CARTER PHOTOGRAPHS OLIVER EDWARDS

People are very much at the heart of what we do. Each issue, we’re sitting down with one of our special partners to have a well-deserved cuppa and a chat about how we work together to support our local communities.

Emma: Working with your team [at St Austell Food Bank] over the last few years has been great – until I started helping out, I wasn’t aware of the extent of the work that food banks do.

Andy: There’s a lot more to it than dishing out food! We want to find out about the issues that cause people to need the food bank in the first place. The hope is that, if we do our jobs well, people won’t need to come back.

Emma: I’ve noticed we’ve been a lot busier this year. The rising cost of living probably has something to do with it; more people are having to choose between feeding their family and putting the heating on. We’ve also been welcoming Ukrainian refugees.

Andy: I recently looked at some stats, and between April and July this year we gave out 53% more vouchers – which equates to feeding 63% more people – than the same period last year.

Emma: Wow, that’s a lot of people. Are donations keeping up with the demand?

Andy: There’s actually been a decline in donations recently. We’re alright for the likes of tinned meat and veg, soup, pasta, beans and cereal, but we need tinned tomatoes, tinned fruit, custard, coffee and jam, and instant noodles that you only need to boil a kettle to make. And then there are the little treats, like crisps and chocolate – they can make all the difference.

Emma: So, Asda has a permanent collection point in the St Austell store – the trolley near the entrance – which customers drop donations into. How’s that going – have you collected much?

Andy: Shoppers are always generous. In the first half of this year, we collected about three tonnes of food from that trolley. For sleepy little St Austell, with everything that’s going on with the cost of living, that’s pretty impressive.

Thanks to Sam’s Diner at Par for an excellent breakfast

It also means we’ve had good cash top-ups, too – Asda gives us money for every kilogram of donations. Also a huge help is the fact that they send you here to lend a hand every Friday. You really put people at ease when you’re welcoming them in. There’s sadly still a stigma attached to visiting food banks, so it’s important to have that friendly face at the door.

Emma: There’s a lot that needs to happen when people arrive. We work out how we help each person – for instance, not everyone has access to a kitchen, so foods like pasta aren’t going to be any use. Then we’ll see if they’re eligible for any grants or other support, and I also connect them with other local charities I work with. There’s the clothes bank, community bank and lots of different local groups, as well as organisations that help parents with support. When people come into the food bank, I might have chatted to them at, say, playgroup a couple of days before – and that familiarity can really help. That’s one of the reasons I love my job: getting to meet so many people.

Andy: That’s what drew me into this role too. Being part of this team is wonderful – everyone is so committed. There are plenty of challenges, but going home knowing you’ve done something truly useful with your day is a great feeling.

You can help, too!

If you want to donate food to your local food bank, pop in to one of our larger Asda stores and donate an item to our collection trollies. If you want to donate your time, you can find your local food bank at www.trusselltrust.org/get-help/ find-a-foodbank/

“The hope is that if we do our jobs well, people won’t need to come back”

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