Volunteer

Volunteers are the driving force behind foodbanks. There are thousands of volunteers across the UK, helping The Trussell Trust Foodbank Network get emergency food to people in crisis. We want you to enjoy volunteering and there are lots of ways to get involved  food-bank-leaflet. Whatever role you choose, you will make a real difference to the life of someone in crisis.

Warehouse volunteer

Stoke-on-Trent Foodbank process all the food donated for the people in crisis at a central warehouse. We receive an average of 11 tonnes of donated food and send out an average of 12 tonnes of food to the Distribution Centres each month and need a team of volunteers to help us.

This volunteer role includes:

• Dating, cataloguing and storing of food items
• Moving & Handling crates of tinned and packaged food items
• Working alongside volunteers and paid staff to support effective stock rotation.
• Working with colleagues to ensure Stoke-on-Trent Foodbank’s standards are maintained in the handling and storage of food items

Van Driver/Volunteer Driver’s Mate

Stoke-on-Trent Foodbank have a small van which we use to deliver food to each of our 16 Distribution Centres and to collect food donations from various donors across the City.

Could you volunteer some time each week to help? (You will need to be able to safely lift up to 15kg for this volunteer role).

• Driving the Foodbank van (If you have a valid & clean driving licence).
• Transportation of goods from Donors to the Warehouse, Warehouse to Distribution Centres, from Supermarket collections to Warehouse and to other venues as required.

Volunteering at a Foodbank Distribution Centre

People in crisis (Guests) who require a food parcel from the Stoke-on-Trent Foodbank take a voucher to one of our 17 Distribution Centres located across the City.

We have several volunteer roles in these Centres which include:

• Meeting and Greeting the ‘Guests’ as they enter the Centre
• Making refreshments i.e. Tea/ Coffee/ Juice/ Biscuits etc.
• Packing the food parcel from a list of food items
• Administration – using a computer
• Sign posting the ‘guests’ to other agencies to further help them in their situation if required

Volunteering at Food Drives

Stoke-on-Trent Foodbank relies on the generous donations of food from the local people of Stoke-on-Trent in order to provide 3 days’ supply of food to local people in crisis.

Would you like to help us to collect this food by joining our team of volunteers at one of the ‘Food Drives’ held at local supermarkets around the city?

Do you get ‘volunteer’ days from your employer? Would you like to use some of this time helping at a Food Drive? Could you volunteer for one or two hours, or a full day, to suit your availability?

• Handing out shopping lists of items needed by the foodbank to customers as they enter the store
• Receiving donations from customers and thanking them for their donation
• Placing the donated items into plastic trays – ensuring that the food is not damaged
• Giving the filled trays of donations to the van driver to be returned to the warehouse for weighing and sorting

Office Assistant

Stoke-on-Trent Foodbank are a Registered Charity and as such we have an obligation to keep good and accurate records of all our activities.

Are you able to help us by volunteering to perform varied administration tasks?

These roles include:

• Filing
• Entering data onto simple data bases
• Answering the telephone
• Photocopying and compiling information packs etc.

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