St Anns Advice Centre

Thank you for all the clothes you have donated, and a special thanks to the volunteers who helped sort the clothes ready to be sent to the recyclers as soon as they re-open. We managed to raise £600, which will go directly to buying food for people in need.

If YOU have an idea to raise money for the St Ann’s food bank, we’d love to hear about it. Don’t forget to send us photos. So far we have had an appeal to swap the cost of your commute for a donation; indoor mountain climbing and and socially distanced street disco. Your creativity is making a real difference and allowing us to keep the food parcels going out to all those in need.

We’d also like to say a big thank you to the team of volunteers from Dusk til Dawn, who have been working tirelessly to deliver the food door to door and helping people stay safe at home.

Every week we get donations from a whole range of organisations and individuals. Every packet pasta, tin of beans and pot of noodles is appreciated. Together it all adds up, as our hard working food-bank team can testify (since they have to carry it all and are developing arms of steel!)

A short interview with Rory Mountford Lisle who is raising money for the St Ann’s and Sneinton food bank this weekend.

What are you going to do exactly?
I am going to walk up my stairs 264 times, which is 3650 ft, the equivalent of Mount Snowdon. I’m really excited and looking forward to it though.

A video featuring UK residents and people of foreign heritage reciting an anti-racist poem has highlighted the crucial role immigrant workers are playing in the Covid-19 outbreak. You can watch it here.

A short video message from our manager, from Debbie Webster, can be found on our Facebook page. Unfortunately our website isn’t swanky enough to host videos.

http://www.facebook.com/stannsadvice/

“I just wanted to send a heartfelt Thank You and Well Done to you, and your teams, for all you are doing during these testing times. Not just as a councillor, but as a St Ann’s resident and mum. Please do pass on my huge appreciation to your workmates, you’re the beating hearts of our community and city, and I know you’ll do all you can, for as long as you safely can.” Cllr Chantal Lee

Our centre is shut and we are all missing Karen’s delicious cooking at The Swirling Teaspoon community cafe. However, this isn’t stopping our staff from continuing working hard to support our local community.

This photo shows Rachel, Jo and Karen sorting out donations for the food bank, which is seeing a steady increase in demand during this difficult time. We are very thankful for all the support that is helping us meet rising level of need.

Lisa’s phone has been fielding calls from the public, triaging calls to the correct advisor. She really is as friendly as she looks, so don’t hesitate to contact us if you need any support (details can be found here).

Each morning, the lovely Sally braves the queue for the local Post Office collection office for paperwork needed to help clients. Then, the wonderful Parveen and Denise scan all the post and email it to our advice staff, who are working hard from home. Collections of shredded paper are on hold so it looks like we might be able to start up a soft play centre for hamsters before this is over!

Even the pets have stepped in to “help” during this difficult time, by making sure our desks remain warm the minute we leave our work stations.

Steph’s dog Izzy remains unimpressed by her tireless efforts to coordinate donations from across the city and beyond – since the food is going direct to the centre and she is not getting any of it!

Stay tuned for more updates coming soon. Bye for now from your temporary web editor, Annie and my little helper

#COVIDー19 risks pushing millions more families into problem debt. With 80 other orgs we’re calling for urgent action: freeze on debt payments (interest-free), help with rent & bills, write-off Council Tax & benefit debt

#Coronavirus #EndTheDebtTrap

See the full letter here:

Letter_-Covid-19-and-the-Household-Debt-Trap_FINAL