Date time mission

St Andrews Foodbank is part of the North Liverpool Foodbank Group, which is providing invaluable support for those experiencing food poverty.

Currently, the charity is looking for volunteers to help sort out the food donations stored at their warehouse, which is based in Paul Street in Vauxhall - just off Scotland Road.

We were warmly greeted by Jo, the warehouse manager, who has only been in post since December, but has already made her mark. She explained how the system worked and what needed to be done.

My first job on arrival was to help weigh and load some ‘waste’ food , which was being taken to a farm, where it would be utilised, rather than being thrown away. Then I wrote out labels for a whole list of different foods.

As the other volunteers arrived, we were split into two groups: the first had the task of attaching the labels to plastic trays, which were then set out on shelves. These were for any items with a best before date pre June 2020...these would be sorted and sent out to be distributed first.

Meanwhile, the second group were busy sorting the latest batch of donations, going through each item to check the date and then finding the appropriate box among the dozens on the shelves.

GoodGym runners and Everton in the Community volunteers worked alongside each other for more than two hours...and made a huge impact. The room was buzzing with activity, but was surprisingly quiet...apart from the occasional murmmerings of ‘Beans, beans, where where the beans?’ and queries such as, ‘Do we have any pasta sauce 2022?’ It certainly made our brains work, as well as our bodies.

When our time was up, Jo took us all through to the main warehouse...what a sight! We thought there had been a lot of trays where we had been working, but it was nothing compared with the rows and rows of full trays that spread out before us.

As we were leaving, Char and Jo made a date for a return visit...Watch this space.

A huge shout out to Amy and Tony, both back after periods of illness...great to see you both again.