Leicester South Food bank

Who we are

Our foodbank was a project founded by local churches, led by Hope Community Church and community groups, working together towards stopping hunger in our local area. Although we are ‘faith-based’ we are non-religious. That is to say our vision and values are guided by the Christian teaching and practice, but supporting people who are experiencing financial hardship, whilst working towards ending the need for food banks, is not a faith activity. We are a grass rooted charity made up of staff and volunteers of different faiths and beliefs who agree with our vision and values.

Our services are accessed freely without discrimination, by people of many other faiths and no religious faith, reflecting the diversity of our society today.

Our vision is for a community without the need for food banks.

Our values are at the heart of everything we do, helping us navigate tough decisions and support communities effectively. Leicester South Food Bank is based on, shaped, and guided by Christian principles. These values have strong roots in the Christian teaching and practice, whilst also being accessible and meaningful for people, whatever their background. These values provide a strong shared foundation for collaboration towards our goal of ending the need for food banks in the community.

Our culture and values

Our values

Our values are the fundamental driving principles that encapsulate the passion and motivation for our work.

Compassion: We stand in solidarity with people that need the help of food banks. We put the wellbeing of people served by food banks above everything else. We always uphold and protect their dignity.

Justice: We are motivated by a desire to see a more just society. It’s not right that anyone is facing hunger and poverty. Everyone should have enough income to afford the essentials.

Community: We believe we share the responsibility to support one another in our communities. To create change, we must work together for a fairer society.

Dignity: We recognise the innate value of each individual person and seek to prioritise the other person’s needs and concerns in the ethos of inclusivity and friendship. Regardless of background.

Equality, diversity and inclusion policy

Statement of Policy

1 .    The board of Leicester South Food Bank believes that all people are equal and seeks to promote all the foodbank's activities in ways which recognize and encourage that principle.

1. We recognize that discrimination is unacceptable and have made the decision to adopt a formal equal opportunities policy. Breaches of the policy will lead to disciplinary proceedings and, if appropriate, disciplinary action.

2. The aim of the policy is to ensure no client, job applicant, employee or volunteer is discriminated against either directly or indirectly on the grounds of race, colour, ethnic or national origin, religious belief, political opinion or affiliation, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, age or disability.

3. We will ensure that the policy is circulated to any agencies responsible for our recruitment and a copy of the policy will be made available for all employees and volunteers, and made known to all applicants for employment.

4. The policy will be implemented in accordance with the appropriate statutory requirements and full account will be taken of all available guidance and in particular any relevant Codes of Practice.

5. Everyone who is part of the foodbank has individual responsibility under this policy to ensure that the service they deliver and their behaviour towards other staff, volunteers, clients, and donors is both fair and lawful, irrespective of the position held by them.

6. Everyone who is part of the foodbank should ensure that the language they use, the behaviour they adopt, and the working environment they create is non-threatening and non-discriminatory so as to preserve dignity and respect for all, regardless of race, religion, sex, sexuality, marital status, age, employment status, political persuasion, mental or physical health, or criminal convictions.

Training and promotion

1. Staff and volunteers will receive training in the application of this policy to ensure that they are aware of its contents and provisions.

2. All promotion will be in line with this policy.

Monitoring

1. We will maintain and review the employment records of all employees and volunteers in order to monitor the progress of this policy.

2. Monitoring may involve recording recruitment, training and promotional records of all employees, the decisions reached, and the reason for those decisions.

3. The results of any monitoring procedure will be reviewed at regular intervals to assess the effectiveness of the implementation of this policy. Consideration will be given, if necessary, to adjusting this policy to afford greater equality of opportunities to all applicants and volunteers.