On Friday 22 December 2023, a total of 200 hampers will be delivered to Bournemouth (BH1-BH11) families to help them celebrate Christmas together.

This appeal is a collaboration between Citygate Church and Bournemouth Foodbank.

This form allows you to make a specific pledge of support.  You will be able to return to it at a later date to update your pledge if required.

You can take part in one or more of the following ways:

	Nominate Families Help the families you work with by using the food bank network.
	Collect Food Help us fill the hampers by gathering particular items.
	Recruit Volunteers Help us prepare and deliver hampers by building teams.
	Raise Funds Help send hampers on their way by giving financially.

For each of the options you select, a page will open up to ask further questions.  Click 'Next' below to cycle through them.

If you are working with a family in Bournemouth that you do not expect to be able to celebrate Christmas together (due to food poverty resulting from an identifiable crisis) then they are eligible to receive a hamper!

Criteria

Just to be clear, the criteria for nominations is as follows:

1. You should know the family well and be providing suitable ongoing support in an effort to restore them to a position of:
   • Love - experiencing the care of others without selfish interest
   • Provision - sustainably fed, clothed and sheltered
   • Justice - treated fairly and protected from abuse
   • Dignity - significantly contributing towards their own welfare and that of others
   • Inclusion - integrated and appreciated within the community
2. They should be a family who would, under better circumstances, expect to celebrate Christmas together.  Individuals are not eligible for a hamper.
3. Clients must live within the borough of Bournemouth (postcodes BH1 to BH11).  Other hamper projects exist in nearby towns.  Please contact your local food bank to find out more.
4. They must be experiencing food insecurity resulting from an identifiable crisis in accordance with the Trussell Trust referral criteria and their situation is not expected to significantly improve to allow them to celebrate Christmas together as we would hope them to be able to.

Hampers are allocated on a first-come-first-serve basis to families who meet the above criteria.  Especially large families may be allocated 2 hampers.  Once all 200 hampers are allocated, further qualifying nominations will be added to a waiting list.  If a hamper becomes available, we will attempt to deliver it to those families on the waiting list.

If you are unsure about the eligibility of a client, please contact the Hamper team for assistance.  

Other projects operate in and around Bournemouth who may be able to serve your client if we aren’t able.  These include:

• Kinson Foodbank (another Trussell Trust project)
• Faithworks Food Banks (based in Southbourne, Christchurch, Poole and Wimbourne)
• Hope For Food (a local charity that runs soup kitchens and provides hampers to schools)
• Basket Brigade (a very similar Christmas hamper project)
• Love Christmas (a project in collaboration with LoveChurch)

For more services aimed at relieving food insecurity, please try BCP Council’s Access To Food Map.

Process

All nominations must be made using the Trussell Trust Data Collection System (DCS) as e-referrals.  This is a highly secure online system that gathers data nationally to help us lobby the government for better social provision.

Please follow these steps to ensure your families are provided for. 

1. Join our referral agency network.

2. E-refer your families from Fri 10 Nov 23.

Nominations will open on Fri 10 Nov 23 and stay open for 4 weeks.

Use the Data Collection System (DCS) to make each referral. Please carefully follow the instructions in the Partner's Guide.  There are some changes to the system from previous years.

3. Submit all nominations by Fri 8 Dec 23.

We need all your nominations by this date so we can process them for approval. You will receive confirmation on or before Fri 15 Dec 23 of which families can expect hampers from us. Referrals will be deconflicted with other projects to reduce the possibility of a family receiving more than one hamper at the same time. We may also be unable to accept your nomination due to over subscription.

Please check the status of your nominations using the link below [NB you must be logged into the DCS first].  If your families are not listed there, the nominations were not submitted correctly and we will not be able to administer them.

Nominations List

Please refer to the explanation in the Partner's Guide to make sense of the status of your nominations.  There is also a troubleshooting section that should help resolve any issues.

4. Stay in touch with your families.

We will need you to remain in contact with the families you refer to us to ensure that the hampers are received.  This will involve informing them of the delivery date (Fri 22 Dec 23) and asking them to ensure someone remains at home to receive the delivery between 10:00 and 17:00. 

The Partner's Guide contains more information about how you can help manage your client’s expectations.  

On delivery day, if our drivers are unable to make their delivery, we will try the client’s phone number that you have provided. If there is still an issue, we will try to contact you, the referral agency, to help resolve the problem.

5. Continue to partner with the Foodbank all year round.

You can refer your clients for emergency food and support according to the same Trussell Trust referral criteria.  With a voucher code, your client will be able to walk into one of a number of Bournemouth Foodbank locations and receive 3 days of non-perishable food for themselves and their household.  Citygate Community Hub is proud to be one of those locations.

Please note that the criteria explains the limitations of support, including the 3-voucher policy.  Christmas hampers should not be counted against a client’s voucher count as they are an extra gift from the project.

1. Choose an item to collect

Choose an item that you would like to collect for the hampers and pledge an amount that you want to aim for. We recommend focusing on one basic food item as these are most essential and perhaps add a modest amount of a luxury item as well to keep things fun for your people.

2. Promote the collection to your group.  

We will get in touch to see how we can support your collection with a printed poster or an image you can use on social media.

3. Deliver your donation on Mon 18 Dec 23

Select a time below to drop off your donation to:

Citygate Church
138a Holdenhurst Rd
Bournemouth
BH8 8AS 

We have a team of volunteers ready to receive your donation, take a photo and thank you properly.  

Please do not deliver it to the Bournemouth Foodbank warehouse or any other distribution centre - they are busy enough at this time of year as it is!

Unfortunately we are unable to store any amount of stock before that day as we simply don't have the space.  Also, we are unable to collect your donations as we don't have a vehicle.  But please get in touch if you are struggling with the logistics and we will try to find a solution!

 

 

4. Enjoy your Christmas!

...knowing that you have helped feed hundreds of families this season!

5. Continue to donate food to Bournemouth Foodbank

Support of their year-round mission to eliminate food insecurity in our town.  You can find out what items they are short of and where to bring your donations at their Donate Food page.

Drivers

We need 70 drivers on Friday 22 December 2023 to deliver hampers to the door. We get the very best volunteers by recruiting them through our partner organisations. As part of the application process, each driver will commit to the following:

1. Deliver Hope – treat clients with compassion without judgement.  Drivers will normally deliver hampers to three different addresses within Bournemouth.
2. Drive Safely – conduct personal vehicles responsibly on the road.  A normal size car with the back seats down is plenty of space for three hampers plus a crate of fresh and a box of frozen food.
3. Carry Safely – demonstrate good manual handling skills.  The main hampers can weigh 25kg or more so a helper is highly recommended.
4. Maintain Client Confidentiality – adhere to our data protection policy.  Drivers are responsible for returning their paperwork and using the delivery app correctly.
5. Maintain Food Hygiene – handle foodstuffs safely.  Hampers include fresh and frozen foods which need to be transported and handed over properly.
6. Stick To The Plan – arrive on time and follow detailed instructions conscientiously.  Collection times are allocated between 10am and 3pm and all deliveries should be completed by 5pm.

Please sponsor the application of individuals in your group by sending them the following link to register their interest in joining the delivery fleet:

hamperappeal.org/bournemouth

Collection teams

In one day, 11,000 items are received from donors and sorted in preparation for packing into hampers.  Teams of 6 or more persons work shifts to get the job done.  

Collections takes place at Citygate Church’s Bournemouth site:

Citygate Centre
138a Holdenhurst Rd
Bournemouth
BH8 8AS 

The following 4 hour shifts need filling: 

Packing teams

Over three days, 200 hampers are packed, decorated and prepared for delivery. Teams of 10 or more persons work shifts to get the job done.

Packing takes place at Citygate Church’s Bournemouth site:

Citygate Centre
138a Holdenhurst Rd
Bournemouth
BH8 8AS

The following 2 hour shifts need filling:

Support teams

Delivery day requires two teams of 6 or more persons to help pack the fresh and frozen delivery, load vehicles, direct traffic and tidy everything away.

Deliveries are staged from Citygate Church’s Bournemouth site:

Citygate Centre
138a Holdenhurst Rd
Bournemouth
BH8 8AS

The following 4 hour 15 min shifts need filling:

Citygate Church will be purchasing fresh and frozen food, toy vouchers and a number of other items to go in or decorate the hampers.  They will also be hiring facilities and making a number of other significant financial commitments towards this project.  We would be hugely grateful if you would consider making a gift to the church's Hamper Fund.

Give by bank transfer

You can give via standing order or via your banking app. Here are the details you need for your banking app:

Name: Citygate Church
Sort code: 40-13-07
Account no: 42427427

Make sure you use the correct reference:

Ref: 'INITIAL+SURNAME+HAMPERS'

Give by cheque

Make out your cheque to 'Citygate Church' but make sure you write ‘Hamper Fund’ on the back.  Then send it to:

Citygate Church
138a Holdenhurst Rd
Bournemouth
BH8 8AS

Please use the box below to let us know how much you intend on raising.

Sponsor a hamper

To realise the Hamper Appeal's mission of helping families celebrate together, we aim to raise £4,000 in sponsorship.  Please invite your people to sponsor a hamper for £20 each.

This could be the ideal Christmas gift for that friend or family member who already has everything or part of a fun alternative to secret Santa at the office.  All you need to do is send round the link below so your staff or members can take advantage of this unique opportunity.

hamperappeal.org/sponsor

Support the Foodbank

The year-round work of Bournemouth Foodbank is funded entirely by charitable donations from individuals and organisations.  Find out more about giving to the Foodbank on their Donate Money page.

Thank you so much for your support.  We rely on a large network of groups and individuals who are willing to partner with us in a variety of ways.  If you know of anyone else who would interested, please send them to our website:

hamperappeal.org

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