More than 1800 people fed by High Peak foodbank in 2023

As this year draws to a close Paul Bohan from the charity reflects on how the services have grown and his hopes for next year.

He said: “This year has seen a greater number of wellbeing activities introduced to Zink’s weekly timetable and its volunteer numbers rise to 95. There are exciting and interesting projects planned for 2024.”

During the early months of 2023, Zink’s qualified energy assessor provided advice and support to help families reduce the costs of household bills. Some families used High Peak Foodbank at Zink because of higher energy bills.

Energy advice helped to keep costs and, therefore, foodbank demand down for over 160 families. New funding via Lottery Community Fund from The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has enabled this service to start up again from November 2023.

Paul said: “A new Lottery Community funded employability service started in April which has supported over 90 people so far.

“Some have started work after a long period of absence caused by personal issues like health.

“To deal with the demand, Zink now has four work coaches who support people across the High Peak and Derbyshire Dales to get into jobs, education, training or other activities as a step towards work.”

A full timetable of activities is in place at Zink HQ from a School of Rock to a walking group, gaming to Knit Happens, there is something to attract everyone.

Zink HQ on Clough Street is a welcoming place, says Paul, with a central Community Eco-Café that provides full meals, cake and snacks from Tuesday to Friday, 10am until 2pm.

Meals are cooked using food that is perfectly edible but surplus in the supply chain and would have been wasted.. Foodbank users and homeless people eat for free and people can choose to pay more for their meal to support families in crisis.

Zink still provides emergency food through High Peak Foodbank. Families in need are referred by professionals like GPs, Citizens Advice, Social and support workers and usually receive a parcel the same day.

Paul said: “Rather than just give out food, Zink staff will help recipients resolve the issues that caused them to need a foodbank.

“This could be through the in house advice service, work coaching or wellbeing activities and foodbank users receive a free meal voucher for the eco-café at Zink.

“This year over 1800 people have had to rely on emergency food at some point and thanks to the generosity of the community and the hard work of Zink’s volunteers they have received it.”

Zink says going forward it will continue to address community need with pragmatic and creative solutions.

Paul added: “Thanks to funding from Hays Travel and Derbyshire trusts, Zink is also piloting a scheme to provide work experience in Buxton’s German twin town, Bad Nauheim for people marginalised in the labour market.

“Supported by Sheffield University, the scheme aims to reinvigorate self confidence and enable participants to get work when back in the UK.”

For more information, visit www.zink.org.uk or call in to Zink HQ open Monday to Friday 10am until 4pm.