Isle of Wight Foodbank volunteers to receive the Queens Award for Voluntary Service
Volunteers from Isle of Wight Foodbank will receive the Queens Award for Voluntary Service on 4th July in recognition of their vital work in the community.
Since opening in 2011, the foodbank has provided emergency food and additional support to thousands of people across the Island. In the last year alone, 4,875 three day emergency food supplies were given to people in crisis, and 1,845 of these went to children.
Hannah King, Isle of Wight Foodbank manager, says
“It is an honour to receive this award on behalf of the 200+ volunteers involved in the foodbank. We want to see an end to local people needing emergency food from us, but whilst the need for our support exists it is really important to have such a dedicated team of volunteers. Our teams across the Island work hard to ensure emergency food is available to everyone referred, and create a welcoming environment for people to sit and have a chat over a cup of tea with a friendly face. None of this would be possible if it were not for people across the community who generously continue to donate food, time and funds. Thank you so much for all of your support.”
The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service is the highest award given to volunteer groups across the UK to recognise outstanding work done in their own communities, the equivalent of an MBE for volunteer groups. Any group carrying out voluntary work that provides a social, economic or environmental service to the local community can be nominated for the award. Each group is assessed on the benefit it brings to the local community and its standing within that community.
The presentation event will be held on 4th July at Northwood House, Cowes and will be attended by volunteers and foodbank supporters.
The foodbank receives no permanent funding and relies on the generosity of the Island community to cover running costs which include warehouse space, to sort and stock donated food, a van to pick up donated food and deliver to distribution centres, and other overheads like utilities and insurances. The foodbank welcomes any new offers of help with funding – local businesses, organisations and individuals interested in supporting the foodbank’s work can find out more at https://isleofwight.foodbank.org.uk/.