Lancing and Sompting Churches’ Food Bank
Diversity and Equalities policy (PDF)
Lancing and Sompting Churches Food Bank exists to help relieve poverty, especially food poverty in Lancing and Sompting.
1. Access to food
The only criteria our visitors need to meet to gain help is that they are in need of food
and / or energy.
Everyone is welcome to our help. We will not discriminate on the basis of race, faith, ethnicity, legal status (e.g. refugee), disability, age, sexual orientation or gender expression.
To help ensure that we offer an inclusive and equal service to the whole of our community we will only ask sufficient questions to enable us to service our visitors need for food. We will only keep minimal records and keep them in accordance with data protection regulations.
2. Dietary requirements
We recognise that some religious groups, ethnicities, health conditions and people’s life choices may require particular diets.
We will always endeavour to match our provision to need. We anticipate that this will involve asking additional questions about diet and may involve individuals packing their own bags from our store.
Where it is impractical for the food bank to provide for special diets from our stock holding, we will provide vouchers for local shops enabling visitors to go and select food of their choice. Our team members who are working with these visitors will make a decision as to the value of a voucher depending on family size and the finances of the food bank.
3. Delivery service
We will aim to offer a delivery service to anyone who is unable to come to our distribution points. We are normally able to offer this. This does depend on the availability of volunteer drivers so we cannot guarantee to have a delivery service at all times.
Where we cannot offer delivery we will liaise with neighbours, other services, family, etc. to enable collection and delivery of food.
4. Fuel
LSCFB can offer fuel support through the Fuel Bank Foundation. This is a voucher-based system and we will offer it to anyone who is experiencing fuel poverty. The vouchers are subject to the terms and conditions of the national fuel bank (currently two vouchers a year)
5. Outreach
We are aware of demographic gaps in the uptake of our service. This situation is kept under review and the trustees actively work to develop appropriate outreach.
6. Volunteers and Trustees
The Food Bank attracts a number of volunteers from the community. All applications to work with us are welcomed but we often have more people volunteering to help than we can meaningfully use. We will not discriminate on the basis of race, faith, ethnicity, legal status (e.g. refugee), disability, age, sexual orientation or gender expression. Our only concern is the skills that a volunteer can bring to our team. All applicants are assessed against our needs and either brought into the team or their contact details are held until we can use them.
7. Donations
The Food Bank is entirely dependent on donations of food and money. We welcome donations from individuals and groups regardless of affiliation or background. We do not engage in political or religious campaigning.
8. Training
The whole team, (admin, distribution, finance, drivers, trustees), will be made aware of this policy.
9. Monitoring and complaints
We will monitor the operation of the food bank to ensure that the terms of this policy are being operated. This is a trustee task and will be discussed at every trustee meeting.
Complaints concerning the operation of this policy can be made to the co-ordinator who will investigate. Complaints do not need to be confined to the protected characteristics listed at the top of this document. Complaints shall be dealt with in accordance with the Complaints Procedure.