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What's happening at Hope Nottingham?

October 2024


In this month's issue, we celebrate the fantastic work that's been happening at Meadows, Sneinton and Carlton, look forward to the upcoming Tesco Winter Collections and start to think about Christmas...

Bringing positive change


Dear Dominique,


One of our core values at Hope Nottingham is Positive Change. We believe passionately that providing help, support and signposting can make a real difference in the lives of our guests. One example of this is the provision of professional advice within our foodbanks, so guests not only receive emergency food, a warm welcome and a listening ear, but also high quality advice to help make a material difference to their circumstances.


A guest who came to see us recently needed to access the foodbank as ill health and having to care for a family member left them unable to work, leading to financial issues. Thanks to being to access debt advice at the foodbank, they are now working through clearing their debts. They have found it such a blessing to get a breakfast, access the foodbank and receive debt advice all in the same place. As the guests themselves said:


"The foodbank has been a life saver whilst trying to clear debts... I would still be in the dark financially without the input... I thought I would have had to go bankrupt. But it’s such a relief a less damaging solution is available".


Your generosity makes positive change like this possible. Thank you for your continued support.


“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”



Mother Teresa



Donate to Hope Nottingham

Marvellous Meadows!


Meadows Foodbank, based at Bridgeway Hall Methodist Mission in the Meadows, is our busiest foodbank with sessions running on Tuesday evenings, Friday mornings and Saturday lunchtimes. The dedicated volunteer team at the Meadows have worked hard over many years to develop excellent links with the local community in order to keep serving those in need.


One recent example was the collection event organised by the Meadows team at the nearby Sainsbury's store at Castle Marina. The volunteer team, with the support of Sainsbury's staff and the fantastic 26th Nottingham (Meadows) Scout Troop, collected donations from customers, handed out leaflets and spoke to members of the public about the appeal and the wider work of the foodbank.

John Roskalns, chair of the Meadows Leadership Team said “We're delighted to announce that we collected 1300 kgs from the Sainsbury's appeal. This equates to about 15 weeks of regular Sainsbury's collections! Thankyou to all Sainsbury's customers who donated; the Sainsbury's staff, the 26th Nottingham (Meadows ) scout troop and very importantly, to our volunteers who not only attend our foodbank sessions but did extra hours meeting the public in Sainsbury's to encourage donations”. 


We are hugely grateful for not only the generosity of our supporters who donate food and funds, but also to our wonderful volunteers who put in untold hours behind the scenes to keep our food banks stocked, open and able to offer a welcoming environment for those who need it.


Meadows Foodbank are currently looking for volunteers for their Friday morning (10am - 12 noon) foodbank session. If you are interested in joining the fantastic team at Meadows, please do get in touch.

Super Sneinton!


Our Sneinton foodbank is based at the William Booth Memorial Complex in Sneinton and operates on a Tuesday morning in partnership with the Salvation Army.


They have recently built a fantastic partnership with UPS who have supported the food bank through corporate volunteering days by donating supplies, sorting and packing emergency food parcels and learning more about how the food bank operates. Huge thanks to both the team from UPS and the Sneinton team for hosting them - we look forward to more collaboration between UPS and Sneinton food bank in the future!


If your company is interested in supporting our work through volunteering, donating or making us your charity of the year, we'd love to talk to you. Please see our website or email us here.

Arty Carlton!


We were delighted to host the Showcase event for the inaugural Carlton Art Week on Saturday 26 October at our Carlton Community Hub. The event was organised by City Arts in conjunction with Jigsaw Homes and Gedling Borough Council. After speeches by Alma Solarte-Sobon of City-Arts, Sara Davies, Community Connector and Councillor Catherine Pope (one of our own volunteers) the show was open.


Artwork from many local artists as well as our own super-talented Monday Arts & Crafts Group was on display in the church and community café. Entertainment from the Jigsaw Homes Singers, cakes and refreshments in the café and two Art Walks around the local area led by local historian Sam Culshaw-Robinson, meant there was no shortage of activities available.

Around 100 people attended throughout the afternoon, many of whom were first time visitors to the Hub and we look forward to them coming back to see us again.

Carlton Art Week was held between 23-30 October with artwork from Standhill Infants Schools and many talented local artists exhibited in several shops, cafés and the library on Carlton Hill.

All in all the event was a great success and plans are already in the pipeline to make next year's Carlton Art Week even bigger and better!


Thank you to all who attended, volunteered and exhibited artwork.

New Hope van!


Thanks to the generosity of our donors we have now been able to purchase a replacement for our old van which had come to the end of its working life!

Our van along with our hardworking van team volunteers pick up collections from supermarkets and other donors and help keep our network of local foodbanks stocked by transporting food supplies across the city. Our new white van isn't quite as distinguishable as our old yellow one - yet - but we're hoping to add a livery to it soon. Do give our team a friendly wave if you see them out and about!


We'd also like to express our heartfelt thanks once again to Sandicliffe who kindly loaned us the use of an electric van whilst we were van-less! We would have really struggled to operate over the last couple of months without their generosity.

Tesco Winter Collections


As mentioned in last month's issue, we are fast approaching the annual Tesco Winter Food Collection on 28th to 30th November - a national collection organised by Trussell at Tesco stores across the country. Please do pop in to see our volunteer teams and donate a couple of items - and do spread the word to friends, family and colleagues!


We are still in need of volunteers to help run the collections - in particular for slots on Saturday 30th November at the Tesco stores in Beeston and Toton. Please do get in touch if you are able to help.

Christmas is coming!


Is it still a little early to mention Christmas?!


With mince pies definitely now in the shops, our thoughts are turning to Christmas - one of our busiest times of year. We love hearing from supporters who want to donate to our food banks over the Christmas season and have developed some resources to help organise food collections in your office, school or business, or even try a "reverse" advent calendar to support our food banks. You can download them from our website here.


Our food banks do get very busy in the run up to Christmas, so we'd ask you to consider either bringing in your donation towards the start of December so we have time to distribute any Christmassy treats before the big day, or to bring it in after New Year, when our donation levels typically fall significantly.


You can donate at any of our food banks across Nottingham. To find your nearest and when they are open, click here.

We need you!


We couldn't do what we do without our fantastic team of volunteers!


To find out about our current volunteer vacancies at Hope Nottingham, see our Volunteering webpage here.

Hope Community meals


Our next pay-what-you-can meals are on Tuesday 12th November at Hope House, Beeston and Monday 26th November at Carlton Community Hub



Our community meals are a great chance to enjoy a delicious meal cooked by our wonderful volunteers and to get to know others in the community. Why not bring a friend?


We'd love to see you there! Let us know you are coming in advance by calling on 0303 040 1110 or by email. Please note: numbers at Carlton are strictly limited to 60 due to fire regulations.

Final thoughts...


This month's final thought comes from Helen Voce, our Area Operations Manager, who reflects on her impressions of Hope Nottingham since joining us in August. You can read her reflection here.

Thank you


We love hearing from you - please do call in for a chat or tour of Hope House or Carlton Community Hub or visit our website for more ways to get involved with our work. You can also follow us on Facebook here.


Every blessing,


From the Hope Nottingham team

Read more about our work

Hope Nottingham | 0303 040 1110 | www.hope-nottingham.org.uk

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