Van For Food Deliveries from Foodbank To The Most Vulnerable
May 1, 2020
We are raising funds for a Mini-bus / Van that we can use to collect food from Fareshare, Costco, Co-op stores, Tescos who have kindly agreed to donate surplus food for us to distribute to the most vulnerable in Brent.
To reach all those who need food and essential supplies we will need the Mini-bus/Van to reach them from our newly created AYP Foodbank. We can purchase decent Mini-bus for £10,000-£15000, however, if we can raise more funds we can purchase a vehicle that will last us for more years, cover costs for essential supplies and future programmes for young people. We have also received confirmation of a donor that will match fund every pound donated up to £5,000 to help us reach our £15,000 target.
We are currently providing 150 people with food parcels and 1400 meals a week from our foodbank. While we have a good team of volunteers we are struggling to get the food and supplies to all those who need it, due to lack of transport options.
After lockdown is over and we are able to resume our youth programmes and take young people on developmental trips we will be able to fully utilise the mini-bus/van to:
-Continue food collection and distribution to the most vulnerable
-Allow young people with physical disabilities to attend our youth and community centre
-Run weekly and daily trips (during holidays) for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Ansar Youth Project (AYP) is an exciting and innovative youth organisation which specialises in targeting young people from a diverse range of disadvantaged and marginalised communities in Brent and neighbouring boroughs. Most of our members:
- Come from very low income households
- Are in care
- Are being bullied
- Suffer from mental health issues
- Come from abusive households
- Are refugees
- Young people with special needs
We are a leading organisation providing faith and culturally sensitive youth-work in our local communities. Our mission is to engage as many young people between the age of 11 and 17 in our specialised Youth Programme’s. We are the few organisations in the UK that are completely youth led and many of the participation barriers. If we had to stop our services due to lack of support, over 1,000 young people would no longer have access to youth services due to participation barriers. Over the past year, AYP has been able to engage with over 1,000 young people in North West London and are seeking to continue growing into wider parts of London.
Ansar Youth Project runs the following programmes throughout the yeat:
• Weekly youth clubs with developmental workshops engaging 20-50 young people per session engaging over 100 young people per week
• Employment programmes resulting in over 50 young people gaining support in CV writing and job applications
• Organise Qualifications for young people – resulting in over 100 young people gaining first aid and mental health first aid qualification
• Business Programmes training young people
• Peer Mentoring Programmes training over 50 youth mentors over the year to support younger people in the challenges they face in their lives.
• Provide over 500 volunteer opportunities for young people a year
• Provide teamwork, leadership and developmental opportunities for over 150 young people per year, to further aid their holistic development.
• Over 1,000 young people benefit from our work per year
Our Covid-19 Response
Since the outbreak of Covid-19 all the young people and most family members are at home in isolation. Due to this many of our members and families have been suffering the following issues:
Unable to access food and essential supplies due to low income or being quarantined
The most vulnerable in the surrounding locality, needing support, who are struggling with food, medication and general physical support
A large number of our young people come from disadvantaged backgrounds and have challenging issues that include:
Come from extremely low income backgrounds
Abusive households and are suffering as they cannot escape
Increased mental health issues while in isolation and no access to coping mechanisms
Loss of income from unemployment caused by the pandemic and are not covered by the government support schemes
How we will address the above:
Food Delivery and Collection Service for the most vulnerable
We will be getting food donations from some of our partners (Felix Project, Fareshare, City Harvest and local shops / restaurants)
We will be getting heavily subsidized products such as hand sanitisers from inKindid Direct and The RedBox Project
We will then collate all products at our Youth Club and sort it to be put in parcels for those who are in need with volunteers from the community
These products will go to low income families and the most vulnerable in our community that include; over 70s, people with underlying health conditions, who we know through our community projects.
Parcels will also be saved for young people attending the daily youth club (children of key workers) this will ensure that key workers who sometimes have difficulties shopping due to the current panic buying situation will receive food.
To ensure safety of volunteers and those receiving food parcels a range of measures will be in place. Products will be disinfected upon arrival. Volunteers will be screened for a fever before entering (via a laser thermometer). Hand Sanitiser will be used by anyone entering and exiting the building. The building will be disinfected thoroughly before and after sessions. Gloves will be worn by all volunteers. Upon entering volunteers will be briefed on safe working practice to ensure they understand how they can reduce the risk of catching and spreading the virus.
Virtual Engagement Project to help people in isolation
We are also launching a daily virtual engagement program for young people through our social media channels and Kahoot. This is how we will deliver our Youth Work curriculum and support them in their education while the schools are closed. Most importantly the work we carry will be essential to help people in isolation.
Our activities will include; tutorials, home workouts to help them stay fit and active, Q & A’s, and workshops that will not only be interesting but will also result in qualifications. This will help ensure young people are still actively participating in our services as well as learning new things. We will also be actively ensuring that young people are engaged and remain in communication with the friends they have developed at the youth club. This will ensure none of these young people become isolated.
Due to the young people we engage coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, these young people’s families may require support. Through digital engagement a line of communication may be established allowing us to support and refer to other services. In the first two weeks our volunteers will call our membership database of young people to check up on them to see if they need any support during this period. If we can help through food deliveries or virtual engagement we will, if not we will refer them to partner organisations.
These activities will also serve as diversionary. Preventing young people who do not understand the severity of COVID-19, leaving the house and meeting their friends. This will further reduce the spread of the virus and reduce strain on the emergency services.
We are partnering up with CharityDigitalExchange and Electronic Arts who have agreed to provide free software and games. Computer Aid have agreed to provide computers and laptops to 50 young people from low-income families at a heavily subsidised rate. To ensure as many young people as possible may access this project.
We find many young people come to the youth club computers after school to finish their homework. With little access to a library or computer young people may find it difficult to keep up with their education and keep entertained whilst isolated.
Online recruitment portal and 1-2-1 job application support will be provided through social media and skype
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