Nationwide Community & Heritage Awards – Nominations due by 28 April

The Nationwide Building Society is sponsoring an award for volunteers – the unsung heroes of the community! There is a community group category that’s perfect for The Food Chain volunteer army. So can we ask any and all of you to nominate yourselves for this well-deserved award.

The nomination form can be accessed at the link below and must be returned by 28 April 2008. In order to help you fill in the form, below are some sample answers, which you can use, or of course you can fill the form in however you think is appropriate.

To access the form Click Here

Sample Answers

Nominees name: c/o Rhiannon McCorkindale
Nominees Address: 202-208 New North Road
Nominees Postcode: N1 7BJ
Nominees telephone number: 0207 354 0333

What kind of voluntary/community work is the person/group involved with?

Answer 1:

The Food Chain exists to ensure that those living with HIV do not have their ability to get well and stay well hampered by a lack of access to good nutrition. The Sunday meal delivery Service is run by volunteers and provides HIV-positive Londoners and their families and carers with a hot Sunday Lunch, hot or cold dessert and a cold light meal. It takes over 100 volunteers a week to provide this service which delivers 450 meals a week.

Answer 2:

The Food Chain has existed since Christmas Day, 1988. To date it has delivered over 500,000 meals to HIV-positive Londoners and their families and carers. This Sunday meal service is delivered entirely by volunteers who plan, prepare and deliver the meals to the doorsteps of our service users.

Why do you think this person/group deserves recognition?

Answer 1:

The Food Chain has over 1,000 volunteers and a minimum of 100 volunteers a week donate their time to The Food Chain Sunday Service. Volunteers also run The Food Chain through various committees. Volunteers also collect funds for The Food Chain as street collectors, collecting money on club nights, through sponsorship or by arranging their own fundraising event.

Answer 2:

In addition to volunteering on Sundays, The Food Chain volunteers also collect funds, and lead the organisation. The Management Committee and Trustees are all volunteers, and volunteers also sit on specialist Subcommittees that manage every aspect of the organisation including communications, community fundraising, finance, the Sunday Service and a Subcommittee of nutrition specialists.

How much time and effort is spent on this project?

Answer 1:

Volunteers donate at least one Sunday a month to The Food Chain, though many offer more of their time by becoming a member of a committee or by fundraising. Others may become a rota coordinator, donating their time during in the week to ensure that there are enough volunteers every Sunday.

Answer 2:
Each week approximately 100 volunteers donate between 4 and 16 hours of their time, sometimes more to The Food Chain.

What overall impact has this had on the community/heritage project?

Answer 1:

The effort put in by volunteers means we are better able to meet the needs of our service users. Many of our service users have mobility problems or are unable to afford good food, and rely on The Food Chain for their food. Our 2007 survey shows that we meet the ethnic tastes of 80% of our service users by tailoring 45% of the meals. The majority of our service users believe that the food looks and tastes very good or good, and over half believe that the nutritional balance of the food is very good.

Answer 2:

Our volunteers allow us to provide a service that provides housebound HIV-positive Londoners with the good nutrition they need to get well. Good nutrition combats the effects of the HIV virus itself, manage medication side effects and fight opportunistic infection. Research shows that good nutrition helps HIV-positive people live longer.

Please explain why activities would not have happened if this person/group had not been involved?

Answer 1:

Without volunteers The Food Chain would cease to exist. There is not a single member of staff paid to shop, cook, supervise or distribute our food. The time donated by The Food Chain volunteers adds almost £600,000 of gifts-in-kind to the service we provide. The work of the volunteers ensure that the money received from grants and trusts and other donations goes that much further.

Answer 2:

Without volunteers The Food Chain would cease to exist. We would not be able to provide a Sunday meal delivery Service. Also, we would be unable to develop and implement all our plans for future services. The Food Chain is the only HIV-nutrition organisation in the UK. Without us HIV-positive people in the UK would have nowhere to turn to for information and advice.

Are there any other reasons why you believe this person/group should win an award? (eg an original idea, overcoming a difficulty etc.)

Answer 1:

The Food Chain launched The Ian Craddock Cook Book on World AIDs Day (Dec 1) 2007. It is a one-of-its-kind cook book designed specifically for use by HIV-positive people, or anyone cooking for HIV-positive people. It is used as a resource by The Food Chain Lead Cooks, and is also used by similar organisations around the world. The cook book has been developed and populated with recipes by volunteers. Recipes are available for everyone, medical and nutritional needs have been taken into account, and recipes are searchable by country of origin, course and food type.

Answer 2:

The Food Chain has launched original projects in the past, and will soon by launching two new services that will require more volunteers to deliver them. The home shopping scheme will give service users the opportunity to learn more about nutrition and how to make healthier choices in the supermarket, and trained volunteers will deliver this scheme. Also the “Positive Eating” service is currently being developed where trained volunteers with an interest in nutrition will deliver lectures and cookery classes to HIV-positive people who want to learn more about healthy eating.