Swindon Foodbank has announced that it will be holding another silent auction at their West End Music evening on February 12th. 

The event is planned to be a fabulous evening of fine dining mixed with the music of the West End theatre, being sung live by top performers. At previous events such as the Swindon Foodbank Balls, silent auctions have been a great success, and so it was decided to hold another one. 

"We have a great range of prizes," said Lee Thompson, who has recently taken up the post of Project Manager at Foodbank, "Including a very special top prize. One of our supporters has very kindly offered a week's holiday in their holiday home in Crete for the auction!

"We're anticipating a wonderful, successful night, it's going to be special!"

After my first full week as Project Manager one of the things that struck me this week was the number of new people presenting vouchers who are in their later years. In the normal scheme of things we would not be seeing these people as they would be in employment or have their benefits in place. What struck me most was their optimism. Despite life being a little hard at the moment, they would get a job or they would get benefits sorted - these were the types of comments I heard frequently. This was often followed by "when I get sorted I will donate back to Foodbank". Now whilst the offer is great and really appreciated, it is enough to know that in our way we have been able to help others through our mission and demonstrated God's unconditional love.  I do like Hebrews 13 : 2, as I am sure there are many angels out there.

Swindon Foodbank have announced the appointment of a new Project Manager to take over from Richard Belsham. Lee Thompson will be starting with Swindon Foodbank on 3rd January 2012.

Richard has been heading up the work of Swindon Foodbank since its instigation in November 2005. In that time he has overseen the growth of the charity, seeing numbers of people being fed increase year on year. "We saw a particular increase when the recession hit," he explained. "I think it was by God's grace that Swindon Foodbank had been set up when it was, so that we were prepared and able to help people at a really critical time in Swindon.

"The past six years have been an amazing journey, from where we started to now - with a fine, well equipped warehouse, two paid staff, our own delivery van and over 100 volunteers. God has blessed and grown the work as we have sought to support local Swindon people living on the edge of crisis. I shall be stepping down with pride, knowing the Swindon Foodbank is on a sound footing, due to the generosity of individuals, churches and companies who have caught the vision for what we do.  I know that Swindon Foodbank will continue to be an expression of God's love to the people of Swindon and the surrounding areas."

As Richard looks to enjoying his well-deserved retirement at the end of January, he is happy to hand on the baton of management to 46 year old Lee Thompson. Originally from Swindon, Lee wants to use the skills he has gained in the secular world in a variety of roles including project management and customer service, to give back to his hometown. 

Lee briefly shared his vision for 2012 "I'm looking forward to the challenge. With the support of my fiancé Caroline I shall try to continue to build on the successes Richard has created at Swindon Foodbank.  Having met a number of the volunteers and donors already, I would like to thank you all for both making me feel so welcome and for all the hard work that I have seen in keeping this essential service going.

"With a deeper recession predicted I can only see the need for Swindon Foodbank increasing.  High on the agenda for this year is raising awareness of the work we do. If you are in or know of a Community group that would like me to address them with regards to the work of Swindon Foodbank I am more than happy to do so.

I would also like to make Swindon Foodbank Swindon's charity of choice for 2012.

Swindon Foodbank is a local charity filling local needs - please remember it only costs beans to make a difference!"

If you'd like to meet Lee, hear more about his vision for Swindon Foodbank, or get involved in awareness raising initiatives, get in touch via our email - info@swindonfoodbank.co.uk

The volunteers helping out at Swindon Foodbank's latest supermarket collection got an extra special gift - when a family who had previously received foodboxes from the charity were able to donate instead.

Swindon Foodbank volunteers were at Sainsburys Bridgemead from 9am till 5pm on Saturday 3rd December, collecting food from busy shoppers on their way out. The collection went really well with a great response from customers giving food listed on the Swindon Foodbank shopping list. The total haul for the day was a fantastic 1.514 tonnes food. But by far the best moment was when a family wheeled up a small trolley full of food. They explained that just last year they had been in a position where they had needed to receive food from the Foodbank. This year they are in a more stable position, and wanted to give food in order to say thank you for the help they had received.

"It was a very special moment," said Richard Belsham, Project Manager. "We're giving food out all the time to people facing crisis in life, and often don't know the end of the story. To see a family doing so well now to be able to give back - that's the happy ending we're always looking for."

Supermarket collections make up a large chunk of the food income which Swindon Foodbank receives; in 2010 it generated nearly 6,000kgs food for the Warehouse. The first collection of 2012 is currently booked for 4th February at Asda Wal-mart. If you would like to help make it a great foundation for the new year, join them from 9am.

Swindon Foodbank has been incredibly blessed by volunteers in the final months of 2012, helping with the sorting and storing of tonnes of food donated over harvest. But they  need to ask for more volunteers to help in January with the annual stock check. 

The harvest donations were so abundant this year that at times they were running out of boxes for storing it all. But with the help of many teams of volunteers all the food was sorted and stacked ready for redistribution in foodboxes. In fact they had so many offers of help, from church groups and teams of co-workers, that they have had to start turning down further help until the New Year!

Now though they are making plans for their annual stock check on January 3rd. "It's a very physical day," said Richard Belsham, Project Manager, "so we aim to get enough people to be able to swap teams every half hour or so, so that no one is doing too much lifting." The day involves taking every box of food off the shelves, weighing it, and putting it back. 

Swindon Foodbank are asking for anyone who is able to give time on January 3rd between 9.30am and 5pm to get in contact. They can phone - 07932108732, or email info@swindonfoodbank.co.uk

Swindon Foodbank is pleased to announce a truly unique evening of entertainment happening in February 2012.

On Sunday February 12th for just one night, Swindon’s Marriott Hotel will host this unique event where show songs and fine dining mix to provide a truly ‘West End’ experience. Five performers from London West End stage musicals will be performing for Swindon Foodbank. While enjoying stunning performances of classic songs from shows such as Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera and Wicked, guests will also enjoy a three course meal.

This superb evening is only £45 per person, with all proceeds going directly to Swindon Foodbank.

To find out more and see previous performances from this incredible group of talented West End stars by clicking here.

Tickets are on sale now from Swindon Foodbank, just click the booking link below.

Alternatively ring 01793 978045 to book. Grab your tickets now before they’re sold out - they could make an excellent Christmas present!

Don't miss this amazing event - book your tickets now!

Harvest collections this year has brought in a record 13 tonnes of food to the Warehouse - providing a much needed boost in time for Christmas. 

Every year Swindon Foodbank receives extraordinary support from churches and schools around Swindon giving harvest collections. In 2011 we have received a record 13 tonnes from over 100 schools and churches - with some collections still coming in. This is a significant increase from the 9.5 tonnes received at harvest time in 2010. The sheer amount of food coming into the Warehouse was overwhelming, and we are so grateful to the many extra volunteers who gave their time throughout October to help us collect, sort and distribute the harvest haul. We had approximately 80 volunteers in through the doors giving up their time to help. 

The collections through harvest are vital to re-stock the warehouse in advance of Christmas, which always sees an increase in the number of families needing to be supported. Though we can never predict exactly how many extra people we will feed over the festive period, this year we are expecting to feed in the region of 450 people facing crisis during December. 

Finding yourself in financial crisis is a struggle at any time of year, but the festive season makes it particularly hard to face, when surrounded by the Christmas celebrations which you may not be able to join in with. It's even more important then that Swindon Foodbank has a good supply of food so that we are able to help every single person who is referred to us. 

We like to do a little extra to support and encourage those who come to us for support through the Christmas holidays - so at this time of year food boxes also contain extra Christmas treats - such as a Christmas pudding, box of chocolates or even some Christmas crackers! It's great to let those in difficulties know that they don't just have to survive Christmas - but can still enjoy the holidays. 

As well as the usual items on the Foodbank Shopping list we're asking supporters to give a little 'something extra' to go in as a Christmas treat. Food donations can be dropped off at Swindon Restore, at St John's Church, Whitbourne Avenue. 

                     Beans!                                                  Soup stack

John Lewis Home has supported Swindon Foodbank as the local charity became one of its 'charity of the month' for the last quarter. 

The home-styling shop runs a regular charity support programme where three charities get nominated for support for three months. Every customer receives a green disc when they make a purchase, which they use to vote for one of the three charities. At the end of the quarter the discs are counted out and John Lewis Home give out their donation in proportion to how many discs each charity received. 

John Lewis Home has advised that Swindon Foodbank will receive £840. We'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who voted for us. 

If you had visited Mega Bowl Swindon on 24th October you might have been forgiven for thinking Swindon Foodbank had taken over! 

We had a fantastic evening of unlimited bowling - where supporters of Swindon Foodbank took up 13 lanes! Through a great night of bowling fun, including competitions to find the best bowlers and top teams everyone had a great evening. Staff from Intel came out in force to support the night, and managed to take several of the prizes, while setting some great records ready to be challenged when we hold our next bowling evening! 

Altogether the event raised £580.00 for Swindon Foodbank, essential funds which will ensure that Swindon Foodbank can continue its vital work of feeding Swindon residents in crisis. 

Swindon Restore had its official opening on September 2nd, with a ribbon cutting ceremony performed by Graham Mack from BBC Radio Wiltshire. 

We had an amazing day with beautiful weather and many visitors from the community. Our volunteers all did an excellent job and served the community well.

The opening was supported by the Mayor and two Councillors. As well as cutting the ribbon Graham Mack did an incredible PR job for us putting various people on the radio before the day, during the day and then on Monday after the event. We are so grateful to him for his tremendous support.

We had more than 100 visitors on the day - our hot dogs and burgers were very popular! Many people came especially to throw wet sponges at the Management or their favourite volunteer – who do you think that might have been?! The Tombola sold out, the raffle prizes have all been issued. 

We would also like to thank everyone who helped make the day successful, including Leon from Bounce all Day for allowing us to use his bouncy castle for the day. With the older children back at school there were lots of little ones who were able to enjoy bouncing to their heart’s content.

The day was a great success in developing good community relations and networking.