Thousands of food parcels delivered to West Sussex homes every week during pandemic

Food parcels have been delivered to around 11,500 West Sussex homes each week during the pandemic.
Vitacress crate containing food parcel for deliveryVitacress crate containing food parcel for delivery
Vitacress crate containing food parcel for delivery

The figure was shared at a meeting of the county council’s cabinet where members were also told that the community hub team was making 20,000 calls per week to vulnerable residents.

There was praise all round for the work carried out by staff over the past few months.

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Duncan Crow, cabinet member for fire & rescue and communities, said: “There has been a lot of really good work going on locally in West Sussex. A huge thank you to all the staff across all the departments who have really gone that extra mile.”

Stored goods and food parcels at Drayton depotStored goods and food parcels at Drayton depot
Stored goods and food parcels at Drayton depot

The hub operates seven days a week, providing advice and information to those in need, especially people who are still shielded.

Mr Crow said: “We’ve been contacting the most vulnerable people who are on the shielded list.

“There’s roughly 11,500 households in West Sussex who are receiving a government food parcel every week and we’ve been complementing that service for where the actual requirements have not been met or where additional items have been needed, as well as providing a same-day emergency parcel should that be required.

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“With our external phone calls, we’ve been really getting to understand what people’s needs are and picking up if those needs have been changing in any way.”

Food parcels being packed into a West Sussex Libraries van for deliveryFood parcels being packed into a West Sussex Libraries van for delivery
Food parcels being packed into a West Sussex Libraries van for delivery

Whether those phone calls resulted in a quick ‘everything’s OK’ or a more serious appeal for help, leader Paul Marshall said it was critical to keep the contact going.

Mr Crow added: “We’re actually helping to stop crisis developing among the most vulnerable people by proactively contacting them, and also providing a weekly follow-up call if that is requested.

“We’ve been getting some really lovely feedback from residents about the phone calls that we’ve been doing every week – really helping to provide that reassurance and good advice for people should they need it.”

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The county council would not have been able to do this without the support of their staff, many of whom have been redeployed from different service areas to support the hub. But also a number of local businesses and organisations who have offered their support, including K2 Crawley, Vitacress, Aldi, Goodwood and Fontwell Park Racecourse.

In April, the Environmental Health team at Crawley Borough Council coordinated the purchase and packing up of 2,150 food boxes on the county council’s behalf at K2 Crawley Leisure Centre.

This involved taking the government’s delivery of food and stocks, as well as purchasing consignments from Aldi supermarkets. The stock was then picked and packed into family sized emergency food parcels for distribution to vulnerable residents by the Community Response Team.

The Aldi food was supplied at cost price and any specific top-up items (such as nappies and baby milk) were purchased by the Environmental Health team to personalise specific deliveries.

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Fontwell Park Racecourse and the Reuben Foundation also supported the community hub by donating over a thousand emergency supply boxes, each containing a range of store cupboard and bathroom essentials. These were donated free of charge to the county council.

In May, Vitacress, a West Sussex based horticulture business, donated 600 black plastic crates to support the food supply response to Covid-19. The donation was organised by Tomasz Czopek, transport & logistics manager for Vitacress. It was a great way to join the local Covid-19 effort and to recycle the crates that are used to deliver some of their farm grown herbs.

This month, Goodwood has come on board to show their support by offering their call centre staff to assist with contacting ‘shielded’ residents. They will also be checking with customers who receive food parcels on a regular basis to ensure their delivery is meeting their needs.

In addition, they are helping with calls to care homes to help roll out the government programme to enable all care homes to test their staff and residents for coronavirus.

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Goodwood has offered their support free of charge and will be supporting from June to September from the Goodwood Estate, using their own IT and telephone systems.

To contact the community hub, either log on to www.westsussex.gov.uk or call 033 022 27980.

Lines are open from 8am to 8pm.

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