Raven House Trust awarded grant to expand Newport foodbank

Raven House Trust is one of the community groups that has been supported by the Our Communities Together cost of living crisis fund run by the Community Foundation Wales in partnership with the Argus.

The charity has been awarded a grant of £15,000 to be funded over three years, all of which will go towards expanding its foodbank activity to reach more people in the community.

The charity has been active since 1992, but throughout lockdown and the cost of living crisis, there has been an unprecedented level of need for the foodbank as people do not have the money to cover increasing bills and food.

They have always had a push to support the homeless and the vulnerable but have found that many other families are also coming to them for help in the current climate.

Finance manager Becca Jevons said they had seen an increase in the need for food parcels grow from 40 people a month to almost 300 people a month in the space of just 18 months.

Ravens House Trust team (LtoR): Foodbank Coordinator Samantha Harrhy, Finance Manager Becca Jevons, (Image: Newsquest)

She said: “The simple point is that this grant will allow people to be fed that might not have done so without it. This year alone, we gave out 1,500 food parcels, and we are concerned that is going to keep growing.

“Our key message is that we want to stop people going hungry, and this grant will enable us to do that, and keep supporting the community by increasing our current capacity.

“This service is crucial to the people that we support, as the cost-of-living crisis is making it harder and harder for the most vulnerable individuals and families to make ends meet, and without our service, they would go hungry.

“The funding will all cover the cost of food to ensure that we can provide more food parcels for vulnerable individuals and families.”

The small and family size food parcels provided by Ravens House Trust (Image: Sallie Phillips, Newsquest)

The winter months will prove crucial for Raven House Trust, as staff expect more people to turn to the foodbank and furniture packages as the cold draws in and heating bills rocket.

Ms Jevons knows the importance of enabling families to afford the necessities such as clothes and heating at this time of year, and believes “the crisis will only get worse before it gets better”.

Chief executive Graeme Corfield believes we are still in the middle of the crisis. “We haven’t felt the full impact yet after Covid, but with inflation and such so high, I think it’s only a matter of time before more people can’t afford food.”

The grant was awarded as part of the South Wales Argus and Community Foundation Wales' 'Our Communities Together' appeal (Image: Archive)

Raven House Trust works with partners to distribute the food parcels to customers, with the volunteers’ focus on ensuring they provide food people are “actually able to cook with”, according to Ms Jevons.

“We want to be sure people are going to be able to eat what we provide,” she said. “We are hoping to take our work to the next stage and get people to bulk up their meals.”

What you can expect in a small or large food parcel (Image: Sallie Phillips, Newsquest)

The partners the charity works with include Gwent Police, Newport City Homes, Pobl Housing, Women’s Aid, Welsh Refugee Council, Newport Mind, Red Cross, Llamau, as well as social services and local schools.

Volunteers such as Jacky Pitt and Gill Passey, along with Foodbank Coordinator Samantha Harrhy, work on putting the boxes together – small for couples or singles, and bigger boxes that will feed a family of four.

The team hopes to use the grant to elevate the food parcels, adding different ingredients and including meal ideas and recipes.

The charity is just one of dozens across Wales to benefit from grants as a result of the Our Communities Together appeal. Today, the Argus is relaunching the appeal to help more people in the cost of living crisis. You can find out more at communityfoundationwales.org.uk/