We will buy a Van to help people facing crisis or hardship in Sunderland to get the advice & essentials they need. FISCUS delivers Advice & Crisis outreach at 6 Community Food Banks in Sunderland (8 weekly sessions). FISCUS helps people in need with Advice, emergency Food, Clothing, Fuel Poverty and Essentials. A van will help FISCUS improve our Community Food & Recycling projects. We are expanding our community 'spaces for people to connect' at the Co-op Centre in Sunderland. A van will support people in need, referred into our crisis support especially our Community Clothes Bank, Baby Bank, Community Training Room and our Community Garden & Allotment. We need a van to help our volunteers COLLECT, RECYCLE, REUSE & DELIVER far more items than we currently can, to make our amazing recycling & advice and crisis projects even better! Please support FISCUS Projects:
*COMMUNITY CLOTHES BANK
*FISCUS YOUNG MAM’S FOOD BANK
*BUNDLES for BABIES, BABY BANK
*MY SISTERS’ GARDEN & ALLOTMENT
What we'll deliver:
- • Buy a Community Van with low emissions
- • Deliver 12 independent living skills & recycling workshops for young mam's
- • Reduce waste and carbon emissions through our community recycling projects
- • Engage, help and support 1000 people in hardship or crisis in Sunderland
- • Improve FISCUS community indoor & outdoor spaces at the Co-op Centre for people to meet and connect
- • 15+ volunteer hours per week dedicated to this project in van deliveries & recycling
Why it's a great idea:
*Help more people who are struggling and facing hardship or crisis, to access support, clothing, essentials, emergency food and to engage in advice services; *Reduce anxiety, increase mental health & well-being *Reduce loneliness and isolation *Increase participation in therapeutic, social & confidence building activities; *Reduce waste going to landfill *Support people to eat well and be more healthy by accessing Community Food Project activities. *Increase new skills among volunteers and service users including gardening skills, growing your own food, recycling and independent living skills*30% of people accessing crisis support will have more money via benefits they are missing out on*Reduce hardship & crisis among people in need *Increased home-grown vegetables and fruit for cooking at our community premises and in participants own homes *Increase Volunteers recruited to engage and participate in their local community projects
Steps to get it done:
- Buy a low emission van
- Insure our volunteers and staff
- Undertake risk assessments
- Plan a daily collection and delivery rota for volunteers
- Induct new volunteers and arrange a visit to Sunderland Foodbank, Community Food Banks and partner organisations
- Hold a community co-production event to get everyone's views about our community food & recycling projects
- Deliver monthly Independent Living Skills & Recycling Workshops for Young Mam's
FISCUS Mission: “Supporting people who are most in need in the community to improve their livelihoods and help them build positive futures” FISCUS AIMS: •To engage with individuals, families, children and young people whose lives are affected by poverty, disadvantage, disability and difficult life experiences •Provide crisis support, welfare benefits & money advice, training, volunteering and social & community opportunities •To enable people to reduce their barriers and improve their livelihoods. We support 2000+ service users annually. In the pandemic, we provided targeted support to 300+ asylum seekers and refugees (87 children), 54 teenage mams’, women survivors of domestic abuse, people accessing community food banks and people experiencing homelessness, addictions, elderly and people finding it hard to make ends meet. Sunderland is 20% most deprived unitary authorities in England; around 24% children live in low income families; Hendon ranks 1% IMD; child poverty is 45%.
