Made In Ely - Episode 25 - Seamus Connolly at Ely Foodbank

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Welcome to
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Made in Ely, the podcast where we talk to local organizations about what they're doing
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and how they're doing it, recorded here at Ely Work Collective. Today's guest is
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Seamus Connolly, CEO of Ely Food Bank. Hi Seamus, how are you? I'm very well,
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thank you. Good, good, good. Right, for, for folks that haven't heard of
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you, haven't heard about Ely Food Bank, let's jump into that first. Give us a
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little bit of a rundown. Um, so Ely Food Bank is, um, well,
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obviously we're very lucky in that the clue is in the title.
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Everybody knows kind of what we do, but maybe a lot of people don't know
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how it actually works. But, um, Ely Food Bank started
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about 13 years ago in Ely by some churches who came together,
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and, um, it's now grown to be in 9
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locations, um, every week,
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and that's about 288 square miles. So it goes up as far
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as March and then across to Waterbeach, Haddenham,
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Ely of course, Soham and Burwell. So quite a, quite a big area.
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Yeah, my goodness. But then that is driven by need and
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people in hardship. So yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow. Okay.
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Um, and what brought you, what brought you specifically to Ely Foodbank?
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Uh, well, if you— so I worked for a long time in the private sector,
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so And then I wanted to do something a bit
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more fulfilling, I suppose. So I was always
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in sales, international sales for a long time. And then
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I moved to fundraising, which is basically charity sales.
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We sell empathy rather than product. But I didn't really enjoy
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that very much. And I always found myself gravitating more towards the operational stuff.
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And then I did an operations role for a year. And then
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I applied for this role, which is basically an operations role,
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just running an organisation. So yeah, that's how I got to where I am at
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Ely Foodbank. Wow, that's mad. And I was just going to
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say, do you find now, especially coming into this sort of role now, I guess
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a lot of that, especially that history leading up to it, a lot of the
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skills and the things you've learned kind of throughout that career are
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definitely sort of useful for you now within this role? Well,
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I think I've always been a problem solver, and I
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get to do that a lot every day. Yeah, which is great. And I've always
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also, also always worked in small organizations,
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more or less. I had one foray into big corporate and
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I really didn't like that. So I get to do a lot of things and
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across a broad spectrum of different, you know, parts of the organization.
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Yeah. Last week I was accounting, you know, this morning I was doing some
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structural operational stuff and, you know, it's very varied. So it's fun. Yeah.
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Yeah, I was going to say, is there a kind of a typical week for
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you as CEO of the organization? There is never a typical
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week, I can honestly say. There are broad times of the year where
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stuff is sort of, you know, scheduled, but mostly we
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never really know what's going to happen week to week. And what I start at
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the beginning of the week thinking I'm going to get done rarely happens and something
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else crops up. Yeah. So yeah, it's quite varied in that
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that regard. Yeah. Is that what you— is that what you enjoy about it?
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Um, I think so. It's not
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always easy things to solve. Um, but, but mostly,
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in the most part, you know, variety is the spice of life and all that.
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So that suits me because that's what I like. Yeah,
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absolutely. Jumping into Ely Food Bank as an organization,
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for someone who's never used a food bank, um, how does that
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work and kind of what, what happens when someone walks through your doors for the
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first time? Well, I think actually we need to go back a tiny step,
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okay? Because I think a lot of people think that, you know, and there are
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many different models of food banks. So, uh, some are just open on a
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Thursday and you can walk up and get some food. And we operate slightly differently
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because we're broadly part of the Trussell Network, which is about 500 food banks
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around the UK. And we have referral partners,
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and referral partners might be the local GP surgery, the council, other charities,
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any frontline organization that might see a person in hardship or a
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family in hardship. And then they will refer— they will fill in a
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form, it's a digital form, and, and they'll issue a referral to us and
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give the person a voucher, which they will then come to the food bank session,
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one of the 9 depending where they're, where they're based. And then
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when, you know, we try to set up the food bank sessions
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so they're a bit like cafes So we have like lots of tables out,
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um, and something as simple as just having a colorful tablecloth
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makes a massive difference. Yeah. And we try to have little bunches of flowers if
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we can, and loads of chocolates and biscuits, and everybody gets,
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you know, a cup of tea or coffee so they can sit and, and just
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relax. So we try to make it a really inviting, homely place, um,
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because it can be quite daunting, you know, if you, if you cannot feed
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your children and you have to walk through the door of a food bank,
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you know, that, that can be quite difficult. Yeah. So we try and greet everybody,
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you know, the same and, you know, with a smile.
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And, you know, there isn't— then there isn't much that's not solved by tea and
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chocolate biscuits. Absolutely. And then we, we, you know, we, we take their voucher
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number and we give them a food parcel based on their house size, you know,
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their household size. And we have— because, you know, just because if
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you can't afford food, then you probably can't afford shampoo for, you know, to wash
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your children's hair or toothpaste or toothbrush. So we do a lot of
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stuff and we have an extras table, which is very imaginatively titled
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now that I've said that out loud, where we'll have food extras,
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which are things that don't necessarily fit in the categories of what goes in every
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food parcel. So people can pick some of those things. And then we'll also
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have stuff like household cleaning stuff,
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toiletries, sanitary products. Pet food,
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because people will feed their pets before they feed themselves, and we've seen that.
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Um, so we give out, we give out all of that stuff because life
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doesn't just stop with breakfast, dinner, and tea. You know, there's other stuff around that.
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Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Like you say, it's all of those other, those other
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elements you sort of don't, don't think about, do you? Actually, yeah,
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like you say, it's not
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just food, but it's all— yeah, especially, you know, be a female, those you know,
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those other, other kind of products, all of, all of that sort of thing.
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Yeah, absolutely. They are very expensive. Yeah, quite.
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Yeah. And have you found that the kind of the, the profile
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of people you've got visiting to come and collect from these food banks has changed
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dramatically in the last few years with things like the cost of living crisis,
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um, getting worse and worse and kind of household products just
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costing more and more these days for people?
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It's, it's difficult to say. Because we try not
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to be too intrusive on, on what, you know, what people— why people
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have been brought to us. Um, but, you know, we do see,
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we do see people come in their uniforms, so basically they
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are working but do not get enough money to be able to afford the
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basics of life. Yeah. Um, so there is that structural
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issue around wages, you know, currently, and also the cost of living
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is just so expensive now, especially after COVID. And now,
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of course, with the Middle East and Ukraine, energy prices, you know,
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Ofcom put the energy cap up again 4% the other day, so that's going to
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affect people pretty radically. Yeah, yeah, as we go into winter.
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Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Nice. And, and you mentioned, touched on
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there as well about the, the kind of extra table. Um, there also sort of
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other support elements as well that you, you, you sort of— people can,
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can find out a bit bit more about it at those sessions as well.
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Yeah, yeah, sure. So we, we, we've been quite lucky.
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Um, last year, um, I applied for a National Lottery grant,
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uh, so that we could have Citizens Advice advisors in our sessions.
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Because if somebody can't fill in a form— because,
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you know, we've all seen those forms, they're really difficult. Yeah. Um,
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for anybody. And also they have, you know,
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issues with food not enough income. Um, we have lots
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of intersectional stuff that people, um, come with.
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You know, it's important that somebody is there who can say, it's okay, we can
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help do that. We know how to navigate the council system or the DWP system
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or, or PIP or whatever it might be. And that really makes a
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massive difference because otherwise, you know, food banks are
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essentially structural, you know, food banks aren't going away.
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Um, so we're trying to do something where instead of just
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giving out food, which is the very, very, you know, it's, it's when people are
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caught in that net, a safety net that we can try and help maybe get
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them in a position where they don't have to come back to the food bank.
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Yeah. Um, so that's what we do. We also have other partners like,
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um, P3 and, um, CAP come regularly,
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and some of the, um, other energy sheet type information
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charities. So we try and act as a facilitation
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point. But the Citizens Advice one is an agreement we have for
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3 years, which we pay Citizens Advice for, and they do great work
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with clients because people can be really stuck and just need a helping hand.
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Yeah. And I guess that whole piece kind of comes hand
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in hand with each other, isn't it? If you're having difficulty paying for food,
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it's probably because there's difficulties elsewhere, which probably means you're having financial difficulties elsewhere.
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Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, I think it's great that you offer that service as
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well for people. Um, yeah, the one thing
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I wanted to touch on a little bit as well, you said there about sort
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of misunderstanding food banks, but I think there's also sometimes, um, I guess the,
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the misunderstanding of, of why potentially people would, would go to,
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to use a food bank in the first place. So, um, do you think there
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is that, that misunderstanding kind of widely that people, you know, people have this perception
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of, um, that maybe the types of folks that would go to a food bank?
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Um, we do encounter that a bit, um,
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but, but we try not to really get too involved
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in that because, yeah, um, we don't judge why somebody is there.
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Yeah, if, if you need food, then you need food. Yeah, the reason why you're
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there is not really our kind of aim. Yeah.
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Um, now, you know, we do get some, some negative comments from people
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who go, well, food banks shouldn't exist and people should be able to sort themselves
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out. But, you know, that, that is just not the way the world works,
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sadly. No. And it's a bit of a non-generous thing to say,
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isn't it? Yeah, 100%. Because, you know, I, I think
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it's a well-known statistic that everybody's about 2 paychecks away from being homeless.
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Yeah. And like, that originated in America, which of course is in a far worse
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state than us in many ways. But, um, so it is difficult for many people,
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and we try not to judge. We're here to help, and, and maybe with citizens'
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advice, get people back on the right track. Yeah, absolutely. And I think even just
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so, we've, you know, obviously been working a bit with, with Jesse and yourselves,
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obviously with the, um, event where coming up with doing. And, um, one of the
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things I remember when I first spoke to Jessie, she was telling me a bit
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about the food bank. And I, um, I'd like to think I'm an empathetic
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person. I, you know, supported lots of charities in the past. And when she's telling
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me about what you guys do, even I was like, I hadn't had no idea
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actually about, you know, the, the how, how it works, how much all of like
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the extra support as well that you, that you have as part of it.
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Um, and I think just that, that, yeah, that, that sort of misconception of actually
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the, the sort of the bigger picture that actually you're supporting folks with is,
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is really incredible. That's what sort of really, I don't know, kind of,
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you know, caught me in a really, really good way that I was like,
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wow, this is, um, you know, the, the breadth of the support that you're giving
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people. Yeah, absolutely. And but it's also really important to remember that we can't
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do any of this without the support of all of the local people who donate
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food every week. Yeah, yeah. Because, you know, a lot of people just—
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I don't know what people think actually, but I do get asked a lot,
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well, how— where does the food come from? I'm like, the food comes
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from people who go and do their shop, and there's every week
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they'll put a couple of extra tins or a jar in the food bank collection
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box. Yeah. Um, we're quite lucky as a food bank, we don't have to buy
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that much food. Um, some food banks have to buy thousands
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of pounds a week. Yeah. Um, like I've been to visit our colleagues
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in Bedford, and their food comes on pallets because they're buying literally,
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you know, know, 800 tins of beans or whatever the case might be.
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Yeah. Um, so we're very lucky in Healey and March and Chatteris and all the
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other places that we serve that the local people are really generous. Yeah.
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And that's how we, we managed to have a good selection of food and,
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you know, those extra bits because, you know, it's more than food. Yeah,
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absolutely. That's a very nice segue as well into, into how people can support,
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I suppose, as well. So, um, you know, we obviously— but this is, um,
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you know, from again from speaking to Jesse and you yourselves in terms of the
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type? There's always sort of certain items that can, can really help. How— yeah,
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if people are listening to this and they, they sort of think, okay, as a,
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as an individual, how can I help? Where can I do that? What,
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you know, what, what's, what's the sort of first route or how they, how they
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can help? Um, well, for, for food donations, the easiest
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thing is just most of the supermarkets will have a collection point. Um,
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and, and, and just anything that is put in that then comes to our
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warehouse and gets sorted and everything is redistributed. And I
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think another important thing is people say, well, I don't really know what to buy.
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And we have had some weird and wonderful things in
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our collection points, I have to say.
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Oh, what's the weirdest item you've had? Oh, last year at Ely,
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and I clearly remember this, there was quite
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an expensive— because I had seen it myself in in Harrods,
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but it was foie gras. And I thought, I thought,
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well, you know, that's, that's going to be here at the end of Christmas.
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And that was gone by the end of that session. So,
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wow, wow. So yeah, weird and wonderful. Yeah. Sometimes we get alcohol
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put in, which is always baffling because we obviously don't give out alcohol.
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Yeah. Um, but the— we're an, we're an ambient food
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bank, so we, we don't do fresh food. So everything is either tins,
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jars, or dried products like pasta, rice, etc.
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Because then we don't have to worry about stuff going off.
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Yeah. And lots of other places do fresh stuff
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and, you know, they collect the fresh food from supermarkets actually,
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and that's distributed a lot through pantries, etc. So we kind of work and,
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you know, we give the dry stuff and they give the
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fresh stuff. So yeah, I mean, it works well. Yeah. Yeah. Wow.
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I love that. I love the thought of who, who on earth was like,
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I know this is what I'll put in my donation. Lovely that they did it.
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But yeah, an odd choice indeed. Yeah. So what actually,
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just, just carry on that theme. What, what are sort of the, I guess,
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the classic items that you're, you're most short of a lot of the time?
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Are there particular items that folks could really, yeah, could drop off?
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Well, the I still haven't figured out why this is,
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but the, the item, the category we're always short of,
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and, and it is the least popular donation, is,
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is tinned meat. So we just
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never have enough of that. Yeah. Um, so we actually did have to buy some
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of that a few weeks ago. Um, and other things like, um,
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custard, um, tinned fruit sometimes.
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Yeah. And UHT milk. Yeah. Because in every
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parcel there's cereal, but cereal kind of is not much use without milk. Yeah.
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No. So yeah, UHT milk is another thing that we're quite short of.
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On the other end of the scale, the thing that we get the most of
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is pasta and beans. Ah, okay.
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Interesting. I could definitely imagine the beans element that people are sort of like,
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oh, I know, I'll just go buy and it's like— get a few tins and
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add them in. Yeah. It's not always that useful,
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I can imagine. Some people don't like beans. I just don't understand it.
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Yeah, like my wife hates baked beans and I'm like, I grew up on baked
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beans. Yeah, it's a texture thing,
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I think, apparently. But I absolutely love them. We had cheesy beans on
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jacket potato the other day. That's one of the best dinners you could ever have.
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It was— we forgot how delicious it was. Um, yeah, one thing you— sorry
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to digress there— one thing you touched on shortly, very briefly then, was just the
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sheer scale of the land that you cover as an organization
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as well. It's not just Ely, it's not just kind of the surrounding area,
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it's that whole Fenland District, isn't it? So it's hundreds of
16:04.820 --> 16:08.722
square miles of land. And I think that the fact that you're
16:08.770 --> 16:12.126
essentially kind of single-handedly supplying that is, is quite incredible. It must be
16:12.626 --> 16:15.257
quite a challenge for you, especially when you go out into the more rural areas
16:15.757 --> 16:18.822
that are harder to get to, and I imagine harder to get kind of donations
16:18.854 --> 16:19.865
from and things like that too.
16:22.587 --> 16:25.983
Yeah, so we're lucky in that we just moved warehouse
16:26.483 --> 16:29.700
actually, which was unplanned. In hindsight,
16:29.829 --> 16:33.485
probably wouldn't do that again because the warehouse we
16:33.695 --> 16:35.692
were in, we just didn't have enough room and it just meant a lot of
16:35.725 --> 16:36.659
lifting for the volunteers.
16:39.808 --> 16:42.920
But now we have a place where we can collect all of the food because
16:42.968 --> 16:46.645
of course we don't get a perfect collection spread in every supermarket.
16:47.160 --> 16:50.020
You have to bring it back, sort it all into categories, and then repack it
16:50.520 --> 16:54.230
so it goes out like that. So it is quite a big logistical type.
16:54.620 --> 16:58.560
I can imagine. Yeah. So we probably process
16:59.060 --> 17:02.720
twice because obviously it'll come in and then go back out. 200,000 kilos a
17:03.220 --> 17:06.580
year, which is quite a lot. That's lots and lots of beans.
17:08.000 --> 17:10.480
Well, that'd be double that in beans because they're about half a kilo.
17:10.980 --> 17:14.000
Yeah. Wow. My goodness. And we touched on this.
17:14.160 --> 17:17.971
That's really nice as well, is obviously there's that side of the— that people
17:18.471 --> 17:21.359
can support obviously from food, as in, you know, with their— in their weekly shop
17:21.859 --> 17:25.421
from that perspective. But I guess you also must have a real army of volunteers
17:25.437 --> 17:28.408
that also do the other side of things as well, that people can— people can
17:28.424 --> 17:32.261
get involved in that way too. So there's
17:32.761 --> 17:36.099
many different forms of charities, and ours is
17:36.436 --> 17:39.712
a volunteer-delivered service because, as I was saying earlier, there's only,
17:39.888 --> 17:43.500
you know, 3.5 of us Um, actual staff,
17:44.000 --> 17:47.140
and all the rest, it's about 125, um, are volunteers who
17:47.640 --> 17:50.660
give up their time every week, you know, 51 weeks a year,
17:51.160 --> 17:54.340
because we close for one week just after Christmas. And without
17:54.840 --> 17:58.100
them, we, we just wouldn't be able to function at all, or it'd be a
17:58.600 --> 18:01.980
very different service. Actually, it's probably what would happen in that there probably wouldn't
18:02.480 --> 18:05.640
be, you know, the cups of tea. It'd be literally very transactional.
18:06.140 --> 18:09.253
It'd be like it wasn't COVID. Yeah. So all of those volunteers who time
18:09.753 --> 18:13.235
are, you know, they're the heroes really. Yeah. Because they're there every
18:13.267 --> 18:16.848
week and, and they're all, you know, they're all there because they want to
18:16.864 --> 18:20.621
help people who are suffering hardship or are in need.
18:21.039 --> 18:24.154
Yeah. So yeah, we can't live without them. And,
18:24.346 --> 18:27.734
and how do you find those— you just touched on how you
18:27.798 --> 18:31.010
close for that week over Christmas. How— I imagine that's probably the
18:31.510 --> 18:35.007
most demanding time of year for you as well. Um, do Do you find you,
18:35.023 --> 18:37.476
you have to bring in more volunteers for that time of year as well as
18:37.492 --> 18:41.852
the big kind of push for more donations? Or, um, well, so our—
18:42.317 --> 18:45.427
from a food-in perspective, uh,
18:45.587 --> 18:48.858
harvest is the, is the busiest time of the year because, you know, churches,
18:48.890 --> 18:51.423
schools, businesses will all do big collections.
18:51.936 --> 18:54.036
So we get a lot of food in for then. And of course, because our
18:54.180 --> 18:57.964
shelf life is probably a year to a year and a half, that will keep
18:58.464 --> 19:02.100
us going until February, March of the following year. And then at Christmas, people are
19:02.600 --> 19:04.560
incredibly generous too. Yeah. And we get a lot of Christmas-type,
19:05.720 --> 19:09.100
you know, products— tin Christmas cakes,
19:09.600 --> 19:12.620
packs of stuffing, cranberry sauce. We still have some from last
19:13.120 --> 19:16.520
year, actually. Christmas puddings that last 30 years. And Christmas puddings,
19:17.020 --> 19:20.520
some of them I think are probably 3 years. Yeah.
19:21.020 --> 19:24.160
But then, you know, people give boxes of chocolates and selection boxes and lots of
19:24.660 --> 19:27.850
stuff like that. So at Christmas, we'll do, as well as the normal food parcels,
19:28.350 --> 19:32.630
we'll also do Christmas hampers for everybody. Oh, lovely. Which, which is because,
19:33.130 --> 19:36.030
you know, some families just won't have very much at Christmas.
19:36.530 --> 19:39.610
Yeah. And, and I remember having selection boxes when I was a child and I
19:40.110 --> 19:42.810
thought they were the best thing ever. Absolutely. I'm glad to see they're still around.
19:43.310 --> 19:46.450
Yeah. So yeah, we do a lot of that at Christmas time too. That's amazing.
19:46.950 --> 19:49.650
And do you also get— do you find folks that will donate things that,
19:50.150 --> 19:53.370
that you touched on before a little bit about the, um, you know, shampoo and
19:53.870 --> 19:55.570
those kind of, you know, when you get your— that gift selection box and you're
19:56.070 --> 19:58.690
like, oh, I'm not really sure whether I'm, what I'm, you know, going to do
19:59.190 --> 20:02.650
with that. Is that also open? So if folks want to sort of donate those,
20:02.730 --> 20:06.150
those to you as well? Absolutely, yeah, because we get a lot of that in
20:06.650 --> 20:09.950
January actually. Yeah. And, um, and I think Jesse did some work on
20:10.450 --> 20:14.190
that last year because, um, they're really useful for, for several things. One, you know,
20:14.690 --> 20:17.650
we have a few events and then we'll do a tombola stand and that type
20:18.150 --> 20:21.210
of stuff. Yeah. Um, so they're really useful for that. But, you know, we also
20:21.710 --> 20:24.920
can put them on the extras table and and somebody will, will have those,
20:25.420 --> 20:29.020
which is great. Yeah, yeah, no, I love that. Um, also, so just
20:29.520 --> 20:31.840
we touched on a little bit about the kind of community aspect, um, right at
20:32.340 --> 20:35.030
the beginning as well with the— with sort of, um, you said about with businesses.
20:35.260 --> 20:38.540
Is that also kind of an integral part, sort of Ely and surrounding areas,
20:38.760 --> 20:42.080
getting the kind of community involved and the business community involved? Have you found
20:42.580 --> 20:46.320
that people have been really sort of supportive from that side? Well, to be,
20:46.820 --> 20:49.814
to be honest, um, we haven't really had a lot of that because,
20:50.633 --> 20:54.232
um, historically, um, most of the cash donations
20:54.345 --> 20:57.928
that we get were through individual giving, um, which is
20:58.024 --> 21:01.141
what it's called in charity speak. But yeah, which is people who give a donation
21:01.173 --> 21:04.756
one-off or a standing order or a direct debit,
21:05.511 --> 21:09.657
which is great because that is what most charities love to have because
21:09.834 --> 21:13.433
it means you've got a broad spread of, of, of things
21:13.947 --> 21:17.764
versus, say, trusts and foundations who also give grants, but generally it's
21:17.796 --> 21:21.305
one-offs and you can't get another one for a few years. And of course,
21:21.321 --> 21:24.606
if you, if you're unlucky and don't get very many at all, then all your
21:25.106 --> 21:28.693
eggs are in one basket. Yeah. Um, so when, when we took
21:29.193 --> 21:32.010
Jesse on, uh, which is just over a year ago now,
21:32.843 --> 21:36.064
um, I, I— when I moved from the private sector to charity,
21:36.208 --> 21:39.269
I was a corporate fundraiser for Alzheimer's Research UK,
21:40.134 --> 21:43.571
um, and And, and I, you know, I was pretty clear that
21:43.587 --> 21:46.125
businesses would be really, really helpful to us.
21:46.961 --> 21:50.511
Um, and, and we're having an event in a few weeks which is
21:51.011 --> 21:54.207
on Lancaster Way Business Park, and a lot of the businesses there have been really,
21:54.223 --> 21:57.886
really supportive. Um, so Jesse has done an amazing job of
21:58.386 --> 22:02.176
that because, um, it is quite difficult. Like, being a fundraiser is really hard work.
22:02.545 --> 22:04.939
Like, it really is. And if you're a small charity,
22:05.694 --> 22:08.296
you know, the, the fundraising team, which is a essentially Jesse and I,
22:09.212 --> 22:12.808
um, you know, you have to wear many hats because
22:13.001 --> 22:16.822
one day you might be writing a pretty complex trust application,
22:17.561 --> 22:19.953
you know, with 15 questions and it's 10 pages long,
22:21.013 --> 22:24.208
uh, and then the next day you might be speaking to a local business
22:24.385 --> 22:27.821
about how their staff could get involved or how they might
22:27.853 --> 22:30.920
want to do some, you know, Charity of the Year type work where you're the
22:31.420 --> 22:34.440
nominated charity, um, And, you know,
22:34.940 --> 22:38.360
and, and you, you hear no a lot, right? Because essentially it's— it doesn't always
22:38.860 --> 22:42.450
work because people have other priorities and it's quite difficult to keep going.
22:42.950 --> 22:46.250
But, um, thankfully Jesse's very tenacious, so he does a great job of that.
22:46.740 --> 22:49.720
Absolutely. So yeah, so we've diversified a lot. Yeah. Because that's the only way to
22:50.220 --> 22:54.160
be sustainable. Yeah. And the, the need is not going down.
22:54.660 --> 22:57.880
Yeah. The need is, is going up a bit, probably 10%
22:58.380 --> 23:01.315
a year, but the complexity of client need is, is far higher.
23:01.684 --> 23:05.797
Yeah. So we're trying to future-proof our resilience
23:06.297 --> 23:09.893
so that we can be here to help more people. Yeah. Yeah.
23:10.295 --> 23:13.074
And for Ely as an area and a kind of a community side of things,
23:13.106 --> 23:16.640
how have you found, um, that's been for Ely Food
23:17.140 --> 23:19.628
Bank and kind of the response you've had, not only from, like you said,
23:19.677 --> 23:22.889
the event that you're doing at Lancaster Way, but also other businesses in and around
23:23.389 --> 23:25.926
Ely and the individuals as well? Have you found they've been very supportive and very
23:25.958 --> 23:28.200
kind of forthcoming with as much as they can be?
23:29.570 --> 23:33.361
Well, food banks are very local. They're place-based charities.
23:33.635 --> 23:37.395
Yeah. So, um, you know, we can't
23:37.427 --> 23:40.877
go to Stevenage and try and raise funds for Ely Food Bank because it
23:41.377 --> 23:44.807
just doesn't work. No, no. So the nature that we're here 13
23:44.904 --> 23:48.647
years in and now probably more sustainable than we have ever been is
23:48.712 --> 23:52.098
completely due to local support. You know, we do get some money
23:52.115 --> 23:54.835
obviously from The National Lottery is obviously a national funder,
23:55.401 --> 23:58.458
and we have got some funding from some others, but mostly it is
23:58.555 --> 24:02.468
local-based individuals, companies, and local-based
24:02.532 --> 24:08.187
trusts and foundations that help us. So we
24:08.493 --> 24:13.430
are quite proud of the fact we must be doing something well because that
24:13.930 --> 24:18.780
support continues. But also, I think people can really relate to— I
24:19.280 --> 24:21.003
say this a lot when I talk about the the work that we do.
24:21.885 --> 24:24.627
If you, if you think of hungry children, it,
24:24.787 --> 24:28.058
it, you know, it's easy to see how
24:28.154 --> 24:32.147
that can affect people. Yeah. And, and I think that, you know,
24:32.371 --> 24:35.963
people are really willing to support that, which I think, I think is incredible as
24:35.979 --> 24:39.443
well, because given the, the fact that, you know, that we
24:39.943 --> 24:42.249
said at the start one of the big problems is this cost of living crisis
24:42.749 --> 24:46.354
that's affecting everybody. Yeah. Which means everybody's kind of tightening their belts all over
24:46.854 --> 24:50.075
the place. And the fact that people are still able and willing to donate as
24:50.091 --> 24:54.214
well when they're probably having to kind of strip back their own lives because
24:54.714 --> 24:58.080
of the way prices are going up. I mean, we've— you look at the price,
24:58.096 --> 25:00.599
like you said, tin meat's a thing you're very short of. But you look at
25:01.099 --> 25:03.342
how much the price of tin meat's gone up in the last 12 months,
25:03.358 --> 25:06.615
24 months, it's, it's, it's, it's quite incredible
25:07.115 --> 25:08.781
how much it has gone up. So the fact that people are still willing to
25:09.281 --> 25:11.572
do that and will keep doing that down the line, like you said, because of
25:12.085 --> 25:15.309
that thing, is, is, is a really good thing as well. Um, so we're
25:15.809 --> 25:17.794
going to change a little bit of gear here now, James, just, you know,
25:17.938 --> 25:20.151
to throw it into the mix and to bring it back to you.
25:20.824 --> 25:23.164
You're like, oh gosh. Um,
25:23.710 --> 25:27.717
obviously working at Ely Food Bank, I can imagine, is, is very emotionally
25:28.217 --> 25:31.565
demanding as well. So it's, you know, from that side, um, do you,
25:31.581 --> 25:34.707
do you find it difficult sort of some, some days to,
25:34.915 --> 25:38.218
to juggle that, just to sort of, I'd say, switch off, but to deal with
25:38.718 --> 25:42.533
that, I guess? It can be quite stressful, to be
25:43.033 --> 25:46.210
honest. Yeah. And, you know, as I said earlier,
25:46.548 --> 25:49.101
we're the catch net, you know, because,
25:50.482 --> 25:53.484
you know, the hierarchy of needs are quite, you know,
25:54.592 --> 25:57.884
well established and basic. But like hunger is not having food
25:58.384 --> 26:01.159
is really important. So yeah, when we have people who,
26:01.721 --> 26:05.077
who come to us, they have probably gone through many other stages
26:05.494 --> 26:08.755
of of various issues before they get to, I haven't got
26:09.255 --> 26:13.237
any food. Um, and, uh, you know, we've had some cases
26:13.285 --> 26:16.931
which are very troubling, I think it's fair to say. Yeah.
26:17.300 --> 26:20.561
Um, but we, we try and help as best we can.
26:21.332 --> 26:25.316
We're equally, you know, we, we work a lot with the council and their safeguarding
26:25.348 --> 26:28.400
teams, um, adult and child social care.
26:29.187 --> 26:32.990
Uh, so we're, you know, we, we have to be experts
26:33.118 --> 26:36.211
on safeguarding. Yeah, our volunteers have to be clear
26:36.339 --> 26:39.688
on being able to pick up the signs of when somebody might be
26:39.768 --> 26:43.278
asking for help in a roundabout way. Yeah, so there are days
26:43.310 --> 26:47.028
which are quite difficult. Yeah, um, but we,
26:47.621 --> 26:49.463
we just try and do our best, and then the next day you have to
26:49.963 --> 26:53.325
start again because, yeah, um, like when we moved warehouse,
26:53.822 --> 26:57.348
it's more complicated than moving house because we can't wait 3 weeks to unpack you
26:57.848 --> 27:01.203
know, we are literally serving the community the next day. So, yeah,
27:01.428 --> 27:04.881
so, you know, we, we, um, we try and manage all of that.
27:05.363 --> 27:07.981
Yeah. And we talk a lot amongst ourselves because,
27:08.880 --> 27:11.884
um, some days, you're right, can be quite difficult, and some of the cases are
27:12.831 --> 27:15.578
quite, quite hard to cope with sometimes. Yeah,
27:15.803 --> 27:19.208
absolutely. And I guess when you're all dealing with that as well,
27:19.738 --> 27:22.565
it's sort of sometimes— and I can imagine it's being able to talk to each
27:22.693 --> 27:26.033
other about you know, sort of get— can, can sometimes then get you through that.
27:26.242 --> 27:29.373
Yeah. So do you find the team's quite supportive of each other? And, um,
27:29.437 --> 27:32.472
well, yes, uh, we are. But also we have,
27:32.809 --> 27:36.036
we have lots of external help. So, you know, we use, um,
27:36.422 --> 27:40.388
we use an agency called 318, um, who are really helpful because a
27:40.452 --> 27:44.161
lot of this stuff is quite technical as well. You know, I've never
27:44.209 --> 27:47.918
found a case where you go, I, I know exactly what to do. Yeah.
27:49.042 --> 27:52.154
That just doesn't exist. No, they're complex in their very nature.
27:52.796 --> 27:55.572
Um, so they help us a lot with who, who we should report to when.
27:55.941 --> 27:59.390
Yeah. Um, and then we have our own, you know, employee assistance
27:59.890 --> 28:02.406
program if people need that. Yeah. Um, but we support each other a lot,
28:02.502 --> 28:05.727
I think, which is, which is a nice thing too. Yeah, absolutely.
28:06.208 --> 28:09.641
And how do you switch off from that? And I know you probably never
28:10.141 --> 28:13.347
do switch off completely, but what do you do kind of out of hours to
28:13.909 --> 28:15.968
kind of reset? And things?
28:17.855 --> 28:22.453
You're right, actually. Um, I really don't
28:22.953 --> 28:25.681
think about Ely Food Bank at any hour of the day or night. But,
28:26.150 --> 28:29.450
um, I mentioned earlier I like to do woodwork
28:29.466 --> 28:33.089
because I find that when you are using,
28:33.671 --> 28:36.986
you know, a very sharp tool, you can't think about anything else or you will
28:37.486 --> 28:40.623
lose a finger, which I have many cuts. I do that,
28:40.639 --> 28:43.800
but I'm, I'm also doing a master's at Cambridge,
28:43.890 --> 28:46.910
which is in social innovation, which of course a food bank is a social innovation.
28:47.410 --> 28:50.870
It's where people have come together to try and solve a problem. So that takes
28:51.370 --> 28:54.810
up a lot of time at the minute. I can imagine.
28:55.310 --> 28:57.870
And then apart from that, I just do fun things like everybody else. My wife
28:58.370 --> 29:00.410
and I go to the cinema a lot. We try and travel as much as
29:00.910 --> 29:03.470
we can. We have 2 miniature dachshunds who bark a lot,
29:06.070 --> 29:09.270
but we get a lot of solace from our dogs too, because, you know,
29:09.770 --> 29:12.690
you can have the worst day and you can come home and Poppy, who's our
29:13.190 --> 29:16.190
oldest one, she's 6, she will jump up and she does the same thing she
29:16.690 --> 29:20.070
does since she was a puppy because she nuzzles under my beard and makes
29:20.570 --> 29:23.170
this noise that she only makes with me. And I'm like, oh gosh, okay.
29:24.009 --> 29:27.350
Yeah, everything's right in the world. We're okay. But yeah, so, you know,
29:27.850 --> 29:31.070
very things to, um, to keep us grounded and happy.
29:31.570 --> 29:34.810
Yeah, absolutely. Because I can imagine, yeah, doing something like that, yeah, you kind of,
29:35.310 --> 29:38.636
you need that, that sort of like downtime, don't you? Yeah, absolutely. And it's
29:39.136 --> 29:43.205
really important because, you know, it's unsustainable to,
29:43.317 --> 29:47.036
to keep going non-stop. So holidays and breaks are important, and we try and
29:47.052 --> 29:51.011
protect those. Yeah, yeah. Um, is there, is there anything you would,
29:51.300 --> 29:55.179
um, I guess some advice that you would give? So if somebody is listening to
29:55.679 --> 29:58.738
this and thinking, um, you know, I'd like that sort of path into, to coming
29:58.770 --> 30:01.816
into, you know, working with the charity, um, as a, you know,
30:01.832 --> 30:05.086
CEO, or starting their own charity maybe as well, um,
30:05.503 --> 30:08.212
is there any kind of lessons I guess you've learned along the way that,
30:08.228 --> 30:11.980
that you would, you would share your wisdom with those folks? Oh gosh,
30:12.237 --> 30:15.766
um, I think one of the things is that everything takes a
30:15.910 --> 30:20.016
lot longer than you think it's going to take. That is the one
30:20.516 --> 30:23.449
of the key things because, you know, there's,
30:23.530 --> 30:27.010
there's so much paperwork with everything you want to set up. But I
30:27.075 --> 30:30.540
think patience is probably a key thing to learn. Um,
30:31.149 --> 30:34.871
and also you kind of need— he caught that shameless James's
30:35.336 --> 30:39.098
little side eye he gave me there. And perseverance, you know,
30:39.131 --> 30:42.712
it's, it's difficult because, you know, if you work for a charity,
30:42.890 --> 30:46.132
you probably have a reason why you do that because it's,
30:46.278 --> 30:48.858
it's, you know, it's not for the wages, let's put it that way. Yeah.
30:49.100 --> 30:52.824
Um, so, you know, everybody who works in charities, I think, has the same kind
30:53.324 --> 30:54.984
of ethos of trying to help other people. Yeah.
30:57.424 --> 31:00.823
Um, and that's why, why we all do it. I'm— I don't think many other
31:01.323 --> 31:04.800
people work in charities for any other reason. But if,
31:04.897 --> 31:07.033
if you want to work in charities, I think the best thing to do is
31:07.081 --> 31:10.936
to volunteer first. Yeah, because, you know, we had a volunteer in our, in our
31:11.436 --> 31:14.935
SOM session, and he volunteered for a little bit, and he now works for a
31:15.435 --> 31:19.368
charity. Um, I helped him with his application for that, and, and he's now volunteer
31:19.868 --> 31:23.576
manager for a charity. So he's literally gone from volunteer to managing
31:23.689 --> 31:27.367
volunteers. Wow, that's amazing. And that's really
31:27.867 --> 31:31.760
helpful, you know. I think there's probably room for a charity apprentice
31:32.260 --> 31:35.860
scheme. Yeah, there is an apprentice scheme obviously run by the government. Yeah. Um,
31:36.360 --> 31:39.560
so that might be something that would be interesting too. But, but definitely volunteering is
31:40.060 --> 31:42.700
a great way to get into, yeah, the charity sector because you have a feel
31:43.200 --> 31:45.140
of what it's like beforehand and whether you're going to like it or not.
31:45.300 --> 31:48.580
Yeah, yeah. And, and speaking of volunteering,
31:49.080 --> 31:52.660
how can people volunteer with Ely Food Bank? Um, so we,
31:53.160 --> 31:56.180
on our website, you can fill in a form and, um, and we'd be delighted
31:56.680 --> 32:00.123
to hear from actually, because we always need more volunteers. And, you know,
32:00.155 --> 32:03.915
there's different types of volunteers, different things you can do.
32:04.670 --> 32:07.417
So you could volunteer at a food bank session, which is, you know,
32:07.867 --> 32:11.754
2 and a half hours a week for a session to set up and,
32:12.188 --> 32:15.096
you know, greet people or make cups of tea,
32:15.160 --> 32:18.486
whatever it might be. We have drivers who pick up
32:18.614 --> 32:21.827
everything, so they're the logistical hub, and people
32:22.327 --> 32:26.095
who work in the warehouse doing the sorting and packing. We have fundraising volunteers who
32:26.595 --> 32:30.630
help with events, which is kind of new, but that's really good. And, and sometimes
32:30.662 --> 32:34.075
project volunteers, you know, people who might be experts in a certain thing
32:34.572 --> 32:38.017
might come and help us with a project. And that is something that businesses do
32:38.033 --> 32:41.687
as well, which is great, um, because, you know, you might have marketing expertise
32:41.783 --> 32:45.677
or IT expertise that's really useful to a small charity, because resource
32:45.741 --> 32:49.571
is the biggest issue charities have. We never have enough money, enough resource.
32:50.180 --> 32:53.490
Mostly not enough time. Yes, the hardest thing.
32:53.880 --> 32:56.820
Um, so anything, anything like that is really helpful.
32:57.320 --> 33:00.860
Okay, excellent. And obviously we'll put links to all your websites
33:01.360 --> 33:04.880
and social media and everything. Yeah, with this when it goes live as well.
33:05.380 --> 33:08.320
Um, and you just touched on events there. Obviously by the time this goes live,
33:08.820 --> 33:11.320
there'll be 2 events that have already been and gone— the, uh, your, your car
33:11.820 --> 33:15.600
show at Lancaster Way and then our summer party that we're doing, obviously in
33:16.100 --> 33:18.720
partnership with you guys as well. Do you have anything else coming out kind of
33:19.220 --> 33:19.840
towards the end of the year, beginning of the year that we could talk about?
33:21.406 --> 33:24.996
Um, well, this from now, which is— we're recording
33:25.012 --> 33:28.073
this in the beginning of September— this is our busiest
33:28.573 --> 33:32.287
time of year because we'll have Harvest, which is the big food
33:32.383 --> 33:35.909
collection type, type of the year. And that'll be
33:36.409 --> 33:40.059
helped massively by the churches and schools and businesses. And then Christmas,
33:40.348 --> 33:44.098
it's obviously Christmas, but people are very generous at Christmas anyway. But we'll probably
33:44.598 --> 33:48.264
do some type of Christmas campaign. Um, to try and recruit more regular
33:48.764 --> 33:51.821
givers and, you know, explain what we do and, and let people help that way.
33:52.510 --> 33:55.427
Um, as for events, um, I think we're a bit jaded by,
33:56.100 --> 33:59.865
um, all the work we've put into the event that's upcoming. We're all
34:00.365 --> 34:03.391
looking forward to it massively. Um, so we'll probably have, have some,
34:03.647 --> 34:07.044
you know, lessons learned from that and then see what the next event
34:07.076 --> 34:11.146
might be. But, um, we certainly have learned a lot from this. So that's something
34:11.162 --> 34:13.582
that probably at the beginning of the year we never would have thought we would
34:14.082 --> 34:16.633
do. And this is the joy of charity life, you know, you think, no,
34:17.019 --> 34:20.069
we're not going to do events, and then suddenly you're doing a big event and
34:20.569 --> 34:23.650
then you have all the skills, so why not do it again? Absolutely. Yeah.
34:24.083 --> 34:27.391
And just expanding on that as well, if, if, um, again, if,
34:27.536 --> 34:30.940
you know, somebody working for a business is listening to this and thinks actually
34:31.309 --> 34:34.071
we'd like to partner with you with, with an event, is that something you guys
34:34.571 --> 34:37.555
are open to? Is that sort of, I guess, them to get in touch and,
34:37.732 --> 34:41.355
and have a chat with you? Well, yes, and, and I'm in quite
34:41.855 --> 34:45.761
a rare position actually, because generally the way that events work is an organization might
34:46.261 --> 34:48.885
put on an event. Yeah. And then they might ask a charity if they wanted
34:49.385 --> 34:52.122
to be the partner or the beneficiary of any funds they raised. Yeah.
34:52.554 --> 34:56.304
And the event that is coming up, we, we're kind of doing
34:56.336 --> 34:59.540
the event and the organization is, is the
34:59.764 --> 35:02.841
less involved partner. Yeah. So actually we've built a lot of skills in these events.
35:02.889 --> 35:06.029
So I think a lot of, a lot of companies might think, oh gosh,
35:06.109 --> 35:09.830
an event will take up a lot of time Yeah, and a lot of resource.
35:09.840 --> 35:12.740
But I think now we're probably in a position where we could help a lot
35:13.240 --> 35:16.680
with that. Yeah. Um, and make it easier because obviously, you know, the less
35:17.180 --> 35:20.320
friction, the more friction you can take away. Yeah. The easier it is to do
35:20.820 --> 35:24.580
stuff. So yeah, I think maybe we've, we've built a happy rod for our own
35:25.080 --> 35:28.660
benefit. No, definitely. I know
35:29.160 --> 35:31.860
James is looking forward to it, being involved in the car show one as well.
35:32.360 --> 35:36.260
Very excited to be announced to be emceeing the Sports Day events Yes,
35:36.760 --> 35:39.580
Jesse and I were planning that yesterday. And, and the raffle, I'm getting— I'm building
35:40.080 --> 35:43.320
up my, my raffle voice, ready for this. So yeah, should be good fun,
35:43.820 --> 35:47.340
I think. Yeah, no, definitely will. Nice. Um,
35:47.840 --> 35:50.880
so we're coming almost to the end now, which is crazy. Um, but we have
35:51.380 --> 35:54.480
got a couple of quick— we call it the quickfire round, which sort of never
35:54.980 --> 35:58.560
seems to be that quick, by the way. Um, just some sort of, yeah,
35:59.060 --> 36:01.360
very different, different questions that we're, we're going to run through with you before we
36:01.860 --> 36:05.112
sort of we close. So James and I will, we'll alternate. So first one
36:05.129 --> 36:08.669
from, for me is favorite place to grab a coffee in Ely.
36:09.720 --> 36:12.521
Well, interesting. So, um,
36:14.179 --> 36:18.414
we don't have an office, so for the last 3 years I have been in
36:18.527 --> 36:23.206
pretty much every coffee shop within our 288-square-mile
36:23.496 --> 36:27.258
radius. Um, so the best coffee in Ely is
36:27.370 --> 36:31.060
in Bakeshop, which I'm holding in my hand.
36:31.170 --> 36:34.490
Yeah, shop, general store. Yeah. Um, I go to Gail's a lot.
36:34.990 --> 36:39.050
Yeah. Uh, I, I live in Exning, so I use,
36:39.550 --> 36:43.110
um, the Village Green Cafe in Burwell. Yeah, we have the same coffee suppliers,
36:43.370 --> 36:47.390
Baked, actually. And, and other places like Willow Grange, we absolutely love.
36:47.890 --> 36:50.950
Yeah, we go there quite a lot. Yeah. Um, so yeah, there's lots of good
36:51.450 --> 36:55.230
coffee places. Yeah, yeah, very, very diplomatic answer there, Seamus. Yes,
36:55.730 --> 36:57.690
other coffee shops too. Exactly, exactly. I know what you mean.
36:59.490 --> 37:03.150
When, when James and I were planning here, we were the same. We sort of,
37:03.650 --> 37:06.470
um, also I'm just terrible from working from home. I just didn't like that.
37:06.730 --> 37:09.070
Uh, I like to kind of move every couple of hours, sort of go to
37:09.570 --> 37:12.630
a different location, you know. Um, so we, we did the same. We sort of
37:13.130 --> 37:15.869
worked from, from lots of different places, and it's just, yeah, amazing. You're kind of
37:16.369 --> 37:19.530
like, the difference in the coffee, the difference in the atmosphere, everything.
37:20.030 --> 37:22.910
It's, yeah, and a lot of places not open on a Monday. That's the biggest
37:23.410 --> 37:26.657
problem. Oh my goodness, absolutely. But now that Ben's Yard Yeah,
37:26.817 --> 37:30.046
their new cafe is open every Monday, so Jesse and I have worked
37:30.546 --> 37:33.644
over there for several of the last Mondays. Oh, there you go. That's really good
37:33.660 --> 37:36.696
too. Well, you're more than welcome to always come here as well. Oh, thank you.
37:36.856 --> 37:39.603
There's some shameless plugging on our part. Yeah.
37:40.310 --> 37:43.667
What's, uh, what's one thing about Ely that you
37:43.779 --> 37:45.594
think is massively underrated?
37:52.148 --> 37:55.667
I'm not sure I should say this, but, um, I, I've been
37:56.167 --> 37:59.411
coming to Ely for a long time because I've lived in Cambridge for 25 years,
37:59.588 --> 38:02.721
Cambridgeshire, at Cambridge and then, and now Exeter.
38:03.524 --> 38:05.983
Um, but I, I used to come to Ely a lot and I always thought,
38:06.095 --> 38:09.052
God, it's really quiet, not a lot happens in Ely.
38:09.550 --> 38:12.747
Yeah, but because of, um, working for Ely Food Bank, we have had a lot
38:12.860 --> 38:16.459
of help from local pubs, and, um, we were the Charity of the Year for
38:16.959 --> 38:20.215
the beer festival this year, which was Um, in town, which was so much fun.
38:20.327 --> 38:24.160
Yeah. But I've gone to lots of the pubs in Ely and they are really,
38:24.176 --> 38:27.592
really lovely. Yeah. Um, and that's, I think, massively,
38:28.089 --> 38:30.767
you know, that's not something that a lot of people know about, I think.
38:30.895 --> 38:33.910
Yeah. In fact, we've actually done a night out in Ely from,
38:34.440 --> 38:38.096
from where I live. That was great fun. So yeah, I think that is because
38:38.128 --> 38:41.303
people, you know, think Ely, the cathedral. Yeah, quite sleepy town.
38:41.400 --> 38:44.560
Yeah. But there's some lovely pubs And restaurants.
38:44.624 --> 38:48.253
Yeah, you do quite the pub crawl here as well. There's— yes,
38:48.301 --> 38:52.620
there's a fair few. Yeah, there are. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I love
38:52.732 --> 38:56.329
that. Um, okay, so maybe food. Um, if you just
38:56.829 --> 39:00.327
interrupt, sorry, do you have a favorite out of those? And we can name names,
39:00.761 --> 39:04.357
it's fine. Um, well, the, the— with the— we had
39:04.857 --> 39:06.991
a camp, the camera guys did a presentation when we, um,
39:07.906 --> 39:11.060
after the beer festival and Um, the pub we went to,
39:11.560 --> 39:14.120
which I can't remember the name of now, but it's— oh gosh, it's called the
39:14.620 --> 39:18.120
something house. Oh God, it's completely gone from my mind. But that
39:18.620 --> 39:22.420
was the loveliest, loveliest pub. Oh, okay. Whereabouts was it?
39:22.920 --> 39:26.420
Well, not— yeah, everybody who knows me will laugh when you say that because I
39:26.920 --> 39:30.260
get lost in my own house. It's in Ely somewhere. Okay,
39:30.760 --> 39:34.220
great, great. We'll go with that. You're all good.
39:34.720 --> 39:37.683
Um, if you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life,
39:37.779 --> 39:41.231
what would it be? Uh, probably something Asian. Oh,
39:42.115 --> 39:45.486
okay. Yeah, okay. Probably, probably a broth with
39:45.986 --> 39:49.404
noodles. Yeah, delicious. Pork belly and chicken. Yeah, nice, nice.
39:50.223 --> 39:54.414
Terrible question when it's nearly lunchtime as well. Um, and what's
39:54.478 --> 39:58.155
one piece of advice you'd give to someone starting a career in the charity sector,
39:58.508 --> 40:02.025
other than one you've already given, to volunteer? Was that the
40:02.525 --> 40:06.241
same? Um, gosh, that's,
40:06.534 --> 40:09.813
that's a big question. I think do lots of things.
40:10.365 --> 40:13.443
Like, you know, in charities, because, um,
40:14.171 --> 40:17.714
everybody is, you know, has too much work and not enough time, you have the
40:18.214 --> 40:20.771
opportunity if you work in a charity to do lots of different types of jobs.
40:21.223 --> 40:25.401
So, you know, do spend some time with the accounts people and understand how charity
40:25.901 --> 40:29.120
funding works, and, and do go and do some events. And, and, you know,
40:29.620 --> 40:31.720
if you have a warehouse, go and work in that for a bit. Yeah,
40:32.220 --> 40:35.980
because the broader your knowledge, the, the better you are at solving problems. So I
40:36.480 --> 40:39.580
think, you know, don't pigeonhole yourself into I want to be a fundraiser or I
40:40.080 --> 40:43.820
want to be in, in marketing or whatever. Do lots of different stuff because
40:44.320 --> 40:48.000
that's really the best way to get a feel for what it is.
40:48.620 --> 40:51.940
Yeah, lovely. That's, that's great. Um, I think
40:52.440 --> 40:55.740
lastly then, just, uh, looking, looking forward, um, like we mentioned,
40:56.240 --> 40:58.080
there's obviously sort of harvest and Christmas and, and things like that, um, coming up
40:58.580 --> 41:01.400
for you. So busy time for you guys.
41:02.120 --> 41:05.580
So just a little bit of a reminder how people can get involved in all
41:06.080 --> 41:09.180
different ways, just where they can go to if they want to get involved and
41:09.680 --> 41:13.620
support you guys. Well, you know, we're very lucky that people donate food
41:14.120 --> 41:17.440
every week, so that's an obvious way. And it doesn't have to
41:17.940 --> 41:20.200
be massive, you know, it can be 2 tins of soup that can make a
41:20.700 --> 41:24.280
massive difference to a family of an evening. You know, if people want to volunteer,
41:24.320 --> 41:26.571
they can apply through the website and we be glad to hear from them.
41:27.388 --> 41:30.882
Um, and, and if somebody wants to, you know, set up a £5 direct
41:30.914 --> 41:34.535
debit a month, every little helps. Like, if you
41:35.035 --> 41:37.804
think of it that, you know, you, you can go and buy a lot of
41:38.304 --> 41:40.448
food with £5. I know a lot of people don't think that anymore, but,
41:40.625 --> 41:43.990
you know, if you're— if, if, if, if you go and you buy like some,
41:44.567 --> 41:47.467
some bits and pieces and put it all together, then you can have a meal.
41:47.595 --> 41:51.923
So even £5 makes a massive difference. Yeah. Um, but yeah, it's It's
41:52.423 --> 41:55.581
just be kind, I guess. Just in a world where you could be anything,
41:55.677 --> 41:59.367
be kind. Yeah. Um, and, and, and just always know there are
41:59.867 --> 42:02.752
people who, who need help, and in many cases it's just not their fault,
42:02.768 --> 42:05.720
it's just the structure of the world we live in. Yeah.
42:06.523 --> 42:10.502
I know that on your Instagram account, which is @eleyfoodbank, I believe,
42:10.999 --> 42:14.753
um, there's often posts there saying things you're short of and things
42:14.769 --> 42:17.966
you can do with extra kind of portions of, so Yeah, for anyone listening,
42:18.014 --> 42:20.350
always keep an eye on that because, as I said, tin meat seems to be
42:20.850 --> 42:24.040
quite regular on there. Coffee is another one I think that we've, we've seen before.
42:24.121 --> 42:27.637
And, and they said UHT milk and things. So yeah, absolutely. And we change
42:27.669 --> 42:30.558
that every Thursday depending on what we're short of. Yeah,
42:31.042 --> 42:34.027
yeah, excellent. Lovely. Well, thank you so much for coming in.
42:34.205 --> 42:37.465
It's been, it's been great. Like I say, you know, with this bit, but just
42:37.965 --> 42:41.404
sort of getting, getting to know, to know you guys and just understanding the important
42:41.904 --> 42:45.174
work you're doing, it's, um, it's, you know, been a real privilege and We'll continue
42:45.206 --> 42:48.601
to support however we can. Thank you very much. We appreciate
42:49.101 --> 42:50.388
it. Yeah, thank you very much for coming in. Thank you.