Food bank charity in plea after slump in donations

THE charity responsible for the Henley food bank has appealed for cash donations as it expects demand to grow during the cost of living crisis.

Nomad, a youth and community project based at the d:two centre in Market Place, has seen gifts and donations fall by nearly two-thirds in the last year.

Peter Lloyd, a trustee, revealed the figures at the charity’s annual meeting, which was held online.

He said: “Thank you to everyone for supporting Nomad so faithfully and so generously. At the same time, those who are donors, please, please do continue to support us as you have done in the past.

“It may be tempting to say ‘we helped last time and we should give somebody else a turn’.

“The minimum staff Nomad employs do amazing work and the money is spent sparingly and wisely. We are heavily dependent on your generosity so please do continue to support us.”

He said income from gifts and donations had dropped from £80,424 to £26,243 in the last financial year. Income to support the food bank had also fallen from £26,229 to £5,641 while the money for Nomad’s help fund had dropped from £21,442 to £9,289.

Mr Lloyd said that while the figures reflected a fall in demand for the charity’s services, he expected the need to rise again as families struggle with rising food and energy prices.

He said: “The trustees started the year thinking that covid might be ending and demand for Nomad services would diminish. In practice, the opposite is happening.

“The effect of two years of covid lockdown has increased pupil anxieties and increased demand for help in the schools and the recent financial uncertainties are increasing family pressures and the need for food parcels.”

The food bank particularly has seen a rise in demand.

Jaco Brewer, who heads up the operation, said it was much busier than in previous years.

He said: “It’s a small area but it’s a vital area and it has been gradually getting busier and keeping all of us busy over the last year. So far this year we’ve been slowly increasing the amount of food we’re getting in and also delivering.”

Nomad’s work also includes mentoring and teaching life skills in schools, family support and after- school and holiday activities.

More recently, it has been involved in helping refugees arriving in the Henley area under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Sarah Lane, who is responsible for fundraising and administration, said: “We were able to support the Ukrainians with laptops, Universal Credit applications, food parcels and what felt like endless trips to job centres.

“Now with the initial six-month posting period coming to an end, we’re supporting housing applications and giving advice.”

The charity also works with vulnerable families and staff told the meeting about examples of this.

Angela Face spoke about her work with “Mary”, who was referred to Nomad for support when her husband died in 2018.

She said: “She appeared very awkward and was mute when we first met. It took time to build a trusting relationship and with time she slowly started opening up.

“It was apparent that she struggled with communication, expressing herself, and recognising emotions. She felt different from the others and was very socially awkward.”

The Nomad team connected Mary with a GP and she was referred for an assessment, which returned a diagnosis of autism.

Ms Face said: “This has helped her understand herself a bit more and opened opportunities to receive specialist support.”

Mary also disclosed that she couldn’t cope with looking after her son, who has special needs and was expressing “challenging behaviour”.

The case was referred to social services while Nomad worked alongside Mary offering targeted sessions around parenting and helping her daughter transition to Gillotts School.

Mary’s son was finally moved to assisted living last week.

Ms Face said: “Although it was difficult for the family, Mary’s son will have the support he needs to live his life to his full potential and his mum and sister will hopefully be able to feel more secure at home.

“Our work will be ongoing as we continue to give Mary the tools to empower her as a parent and gain her own resilience rather than reliance on us.

!While supporting the family, there have been some real breakthroughs, some real frustrations and challenges and emotional moments.

“I’ve personally been challenged in putting in boundaries when receiving desperate phone calls in the evening or weekends. It’s difficult to put in words how intensive this work has been, particularly in the last year.”

Debbie Bromley, who joined the team in March, recalled her first day on the job.

She said: “I was asked by the team to go and support a parent who we were looking after. She had to go for dental surgery and was a parent with a history of drug use. She was extremely nervous as she needed a lot of work done. She was in the chair for a few hours and I had to support her while they were sedating her as she was so scared.

“During this time the dentist came out to talk to me and advised they needed to take out more teeth than anticipated.

“I had to go and take a look in her mouth and approve taking out a couple more teeth. I thought this was a very strange first day and I wondered what was ahead.”

She has since run life skills groups in schools, helped plant trees at Freemans Meadow, run school assemblies and is currently mentoring seven students at Gillotts.

She has also done paintballing and swum in the sea in Bournemouth and now spends her Friday afternoons in the Henley skate park with young people.

She said: “For me, Nomad is all about community and making places of belonging and connection. I’ve heard it said that the greatest human need is to be known and to belong and I think Nomad is all about linking people to support and empowering them to do what they may be ill-equipped to do on their own. It’s about giving people a place to be seen, a place to be noticed, a place to be successful and a place to belong. It’s a place of community.”

Manager Tim Prior said: “Teamwork has been a constant theme during the last 12 months. I’ve witnessed the team working tirelessly, often working additional hours when we are understaffed. They are creative, resourceful, kind and caring. At different points in the year it has been a really challenging time for all the team due to illness and personal challenges but despite this our team has rallied together.

“We do believe we offer good value for money with the support programmes we offer but we don’t ever take it for granted.”