New outreach service offers advice in Foodbanks across the city
A new service to help some of the city's most vulnerable citizens is being delivered by Cardiff Council.
A new Outreach Advice Team is now providing help with money matters and offering support for people to get online and into work in all Foodbanks and Hubs across the city.
Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities, Cllr Lynda Thorne, said: "Our Advice teams do fantastic work offering a range of help and advice on debt management, budgeting, income maximisation and much more. Over recent years, they have helped people to claim millions of pounds worth of additional benefits.
"Many people don't claim what they are entitled to because of difficulties completing forms or because they do not know they are eligible for benefits and other grants and that's where our Outreach Advice Team can help.
"We already provide this service at our Central Library Hub and community hubs across the city but this new outreach provision is taking the service out to where it's most needed. If people are visiting a foodbank they can meet the team and find out about the various ways we can help with their finances and can get information about employment support services across the city. The team can also help with job searching and CVs."
Cardiff Foodbank, working within the Trussell Trust network of Foodbanks, was established to provide emergency food to people in financial crisis. Nutritional meals for three days are provided on receipt of a voucher, sourced from one of over one hundred voucher holders across the city.
Since beginning in 2009, Cardiff Foodbank has seen a year on year increase in those seeking help and in 2016, they provided food to more than 14,000 clients, an increase of two thousand on 2015. Food donated has also increased year on year with 127,000kg donated last year, 28% from supermarket collections.
The charity now has seven distribution centres across the city.
Chair of Trustees Eleanor Sanders said: "Our constant aim is to restore hope to all our clients who visit us. We strive to reduce poverty and, if it's possible, the causes of that poverty in whatever way we can.
"We are very pleased to be working in partnership with Cardiff Council Advice Services. With an advisor provided by the council at each of our centres, we can not only build up a knowledge base amongst our volunteers by listening and learning to advice being given but also providing clients with what can be ‘life changing' information such as how to budget and information on other benefits to be applied for."
Weekly surgeries are now being held at Ely Baptist Church (Mondays 1-3pm), Woodville Baptist Church Foodbank in Cathays (Tuesdays 1-3pm), St Saviours Church Foodbank in Splott (Wednesdays 1-3pm; Thursdays 6.30-8pm), City Church Foodbank in the city centre (Thursdays 10am-12pm), St Phillip Evans Church in Llanedeyrn (Wednesdays 1-3pm; Fridays 11.30am-1.30pm), St Mellons Community Centre Foodbank (Mondays 12.30-2.30pm) and Grangetown Baptist Church Foodbank (Fridays 12-2pm).
For more information on our advice services, visitwww.cardiff.gov.uk/thehubor for more information about Cardiff Foodbank visitwww.cardiff.foodbank.org.uk