IMPORTANT NOTICE

We need to make you aware of the following changes to our Service:

CENTRE CHANGES

With effect from the week commencing April 29th – our Aberbeeg centre will be changing from a Monday opening to a Thursday opening and Beaufort centre will change from a Thursday to take up the Monday slot.

From that date this will be the weeks opening times.

Beaufort Distribution Centre at Church on the Rise

Mon, Tue and Wed 12pm to 3pm

Aberbeeg Distribution Centre at Elevate Church Eden Centre

Thu 10am to 1pm

Brynmawr Distribution Centre at Tabor Centre

Fri 10am to 1pm.

We are still pursuing opportunities to open other centres especially in the Tredegar area and no doubt will advise you in due course when these opportunities are realised.

DELIVERY SERVICE

With effect the week commencing April 29th we have decided to withdraw our Delivery Service to all parts of Blaenau Gwent. We have been running this service since the original lockdown in March 2020 during the Covid period thanks to the early support and help of Tai Calon Drivers who were on furlough at the time and then taken over by Rob our Volunteer driver and various other drivers who have helped us from time to time. This service hasn’t come cheap as our fuel costs to deliver throughout the Borough of Blaenau Gwent has amounted to an average of about £350per month over last 4+ years. Over the last year we have been the only delivery service for Trussell Trust Foodbanks in the whole of South Wales as other Foodbanks have reverted to Collection only which was the only service we offered prior to Covid.

Our last delivery service therefore will be Friday 26th April so please bear this in mind when you are requesting a Foodbank voucher as the service as we go forward is only Collection from the Foodbank centres. The following should be noted –

• The agency who refers you should  print off a voucher and hand it to you so you know where the centre is to pick up your food parcels. Alternatively if they have  dealt with you over the phone then you should be issued  with an E referral Code only number or you can also be emailed the voucher so you can have it on your phone to bring into our centres.
• If clients  can bring shopping bags that would be very helpful as we tend to run short of them easily.
• For those clients who have no access to transport or have health/mobility issues then please discuss with your referral agency as to whether they are able to do this on your behalf. Not all agencies are able to do this.
• Clients can arrange for family or friends/neighbours to pick up instead of them but please be advised  we need a letter of authorisation such as – “I authorise A. Neighbour to collect my food parcel  no E 1234 567890 – Signed A Client”. The neighbour or family/friend will need to bring the Clients ID and also ID for themselves
• We reiterate  that we only offer an emergency food supply covering short term crisis issues and we cannot support long term crisis situations. Other Foodshare groups, Community groups Food pantries etc may be able to assist you in these other situations and please be advised  to view the website of Blaenau Gwent Food Partnership on https://bgfoodpartnership.co.uk/  which shows all the venues in the Blaenau Gwent area.

We are happy to answer any questions you have regarding these changes so don’t hesitate to contact us.

Your support is vital at this time, so if you’re considering donating, we’re particularly in need of:

•  UHT Milk & Powdered Milk

•  Tinned Fruit, Rice Pudding and Sponge Puddings

• Tinned/Packet Custard

• Tinned Carrots, Peas and Sweetcorn

• Tinned Spaghetti

• Tinned cold meat and hot meat

• Tinned Hot Dogs

• Jam

• Pasta Cooking Sauces

• Shower Gel, Shampoo and Deodorant

Please note we have no need of Cereals, Beans and Pasta and all donations must be in date as we cannot use out of date stock. Thank you!

You can follow us on Twitter BGwentFoodbank or on Facebook @blaenaugwentfoodbank to stay up to date. 

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