FIND tops out the new foodbank and reaches £100k FIND 50 appeal target

Families in Need (FIND) is celebrating after reaching the £100,000 FIND 50 lifeline appeal target to help fund the new foodbank and headquarters in Ipswich. The announcement was made at the topping out ceremony for the building of FIND’s new home on 31 July.

Maureen Reynel MBE founder of FIND (centre left), with the construction firms and other organisations celebrating after reaching the £100,000 FIND 50 lifeline appeal target. (Including the High Sheriff of Suffolk Roz Eminson, Genesis, Castons, Barnes, MLM Consulting, Hoopers Architects, Johns Slater and Haward, Ipswich Borough Council and Ipswich East Rotary).

The FIND 50 Lifeline Appeal began in December 2017 as a call for 50 workplaces, schools, groups or individuals to each raise £2,000 towards the costs of funding the new FIND foodbank in Ipswich.

The new HQ and foodbank, which is located in the former sports changing rooms adjacent to Gainsborough Sports Centre, will help the charity to cope with rising demand from local people in poverty and crisis for emergency food and everyday household items.

Maureen Reynel MBE (bottom row centre) celebrates topping out of the new FIND foodbank with (L-R top row) Matthew Kennington, Hoopers Architects; John Button, Castons; Damien Kerry, Barnes; Harlee-Jade Armitage, Johns Slater and Haward; (L-R bottom row) the High Sheriff of Suffolk and FIND volunteer Roz Eminson; and Martin Liddell from MLM Consulting.

Construction work is being carried out by a united team of local companies who are completely remodelling and refurbishing the building. Building works are led by Barnes Construction, alongside Castons, MLM Group, Johns Slater and Haward Consulting, Hooper Architects, Barker Gotelee, Kadec, CCAS and Survey Solutions who are all volunteering their time or resources.

The £100,000 raised through the FIND 50 Lifeline Appeal add to the £100,000 of further funds donated or raised by the charity. The £360,000 total project cost. includes leasing the building for fifteen years from Ipswich Borough Council, installing a new roof and complete remodelling and refurbishment of the interior and exterior.

In addition to funding the new building project, FIND needs at least £100,000 per annum to run its services.

Maureen Reynel, founder of FIND, said: “We are over the moon that the FIND 50 fundraising target has been met through the kindness and generosity of the Suffolk community. This ambitious target would not have been achieved without the dedicated work of Genesis PR in creating and running the campaign, and the plethora of businesses, schools, organisations and individuals who fundraised or made donations.

She added: “Our next fundraising campaign will be launched in the near future.”

Maureen Reynel MBE and founder of FIND standing outside the new foodbank at the topping out ceremony

Penny Arbuthnot, director of PR and marketing agency Genesis, which voluntarily launched and run the FIND 50 Lifeline Appeal, said: “We orchestrated this ambitious campaign because without FIND, many children and adults would simply go hungry. We had to help in some way and the support from the Suffolk community has been outstanding. Thank you to everyone who rose to the challenge and has helped us reach this target.”

FIND helps people who find it difficult to care for themselves at some point in their life. The demand for food parcels and other items (white goods, beds, bedding, school uniforms, nappies and more) has grown year on year and doubled in 2018 to over 6,000 (over 100 per week), stretching the charity’s 80 or more volunteers, who have been working in cramped and unheated facilities.