Foodbank nominated as local charity of the year and praised in the House of Commons

 

The work of the Harlow Foodbank has been praised by the Leader of the House of Commons, Sir George Young, after I highlighted the charity's achievements in the House of Commons.

The Harlow charity, which has now given food to more than 5,000 people since 2009, has been nominated for a national award.

A Parliamentary Motion highlights the work of Harlow Foodbank and welcomes the move by the Department of Work and Pensions to allow jobcentres to issue Foodbank vouchers.

The Harlow charity makes a real difference to the lives of people in Harlow, providing a lifeline to people who are going through a period of difficulty or crisis in their lives.

Sir George said:

 “I applaud the work of the Harlow food bank. I applaud the work that food banks do in constituencies throughout the country, making help available to people who, for whatever reason, have no cash at the end of the week, and I commend the work that is being done in Harlow.”

You can read the Motion HERE.

Tower Magazine helps charity for War Veterans

A new Harlow paper - Tower magazine - is helping to raise funds for veterans from the Falklands War, along with charity "Nothing and Everything", and local man Pete Beatty, on an epic walk and swim from the UK to Gibraltar.

Find out the details on their latest news edition HERE.

by Robert Halfon - www.roberthalfon.blogspot.com

The Science behind Community Action: Foodbank and Talking Books

At Harlow Foodbank

Harlow Foodbank

Reading at Harlow Talking Newspapers

High-Tech memory stick recording machine 

To Harlow Foodbank this morning to pack and weigh tins. Whilst I have visited Foodbank a number of times - and have actively been campaigning in Parliament to allow job centres to hand out food vouchers - until today, I was never aware of the science of Foodbank.

All food that is donated is weighed, and put carefully into packs. Each pack is carefully listed to ensure that there is a nutritional variety. That means packs will contain, exact numbers of tinned fruit, tea, pasta, beans and some tinned meat and vegetables. The organisation behind this is enormous - and meticulous. All down to the volunteers of the Michael Roberts Charitable Trust.

Later in the afternoon I went to Harlow Talking Books, upstairs at the Town Centre Library. Again the science behind the operation was astonishing: Talking newspapers is run with military precision.

In the afternoon, volunteers arrive to cut articles from newspapers into reading format. Later, the readers arrive (I was one of those), and the articles are read and recorded by computer onto a memory stick. The reading goes on for ninety minutes (taken in turn by the readers), watched over by a computer operator, introducer and concluder.

After, the memory stick is then put into a machine so it can be copied onto many other memory sticks (which all go into the one machine). These are then sent off in yellow envelopes to all the listeners at their homes.

The listeners, plug the memory sticks into a mini MP3 player which are supplied free of charge. Once the memory sticks are listened to, the listeners then send the envelopes back, already addressed, as all they have to do is to turn the card address on the envelope around.

The mechanics of all this are quite remarkable - all the more so for being done entirely by volunteers with a shoestring budget.

I really enjoyed my time as a Reader at Talking Newspapers, all the more so because I was able to see the genius of just how it all is done.

A really fulfilling day.

Harlow Community Update

Passmores School Community Action Day: I spent last Thursday with Passmores School students and Head, Vic Goddard. All the students have a day of social action where they visit community projects and help in one way or another. Some were at Harlow Foodbank, others at Pets Corner, or Sam's Place and much more besides. The commitment was extraordinary - but most were loving the day out of the classroom too! The social action project was part of Essex 'Love where you live' initiative'.


Science Alive:  To the first birthday celebrations of our very own Science Museum - Science Alive at the Leisure Zone. Science Alive is all the more amazing, because it is self-funding and has been a most tremendous success. It is one of the mioswt successful centres of science in the East of England.

Harlow College:  Two visits: first to the fashion show, which I have blogged about recently and second to meet students to discuss my parliamentary apprenticeship.  The College will be looking for a new apprentice to work with me in Parliament over the next year.  My Job was to explain just how the apprenticeship works. Incidentally, the Science Alive exhibit above, was made by Harlow College Students, as part of the College 'Big Push'.

Summer Fetes:  It's sunshine time, so loads of fetes are going on in and around Harlow.  I have been to St Mary's at Latton. Royal British Legion and St James Church too.  The trick is not to eat too much. Very hard.

Harlow Business:  Friday saw a day of visiting local businesses:  First Caremark, which provides quality care for patients in homes.  I was struck by the professionalism of the team and commitment of the management.  Second; to Harlow Seedbed Centre, to meet Go Express Couriers and a host of other businesses.  The Seedbed Centre provides a great number of business units at affordable prices.

J W Mills comes to Harlow

A great honour for Harlow today as distinguished sculpturer, J W Mills held an exhibition in the Gibberd Gallery.

Mr Mills is one of Britain's most famous artists and his sculptures vary far and wide: In Downing Street, there is the memorial to women at war. Other ones are of Matisse smoking a cigar, William Blake and even Brian May (of Queen fame).

I was asked to give a speech alongside Mr Mills and Council Chairman Cllr. Mike Garnett.

I mentioned not only the genius of the exhibition, but that it was a very proud moment for Harlow, as a designated sculpture town. I also made the point that Harlow was also a Town of scientific success - the birthplace of fibre optic communications. Science and art were not separate disciplines - both were about the pinnacle of human achievement, originality and the pursuit of excellence.

P.S. Mr Mills daughter, who suffers from Terminal Cancer, came from Switzerland to attend. Her artistic creation is also attached.

Help the Razed Roof charity to win £10,000

Exciting news! The Harlow-based Razed Roof performing arts group has been shortlisted for the semi-final of the National Lottery Awards 'Best Art Project'.

But to win the £10,000 prize, they need our votes.

I have been to watch Razed Roof on a number of occasions, most recently at Harlow Playhouse and the Harlow Fire Station Disability Day. They are a great local group.

Please take a minute to show your support, and help them win £10,000!

To support Razed Roof visit HERE or ring 0844 836 9672. Voting continues until midday on Monday, June 20.

by Robert Halfon - www.roberthalfon.blogspot.com

Big Society Day

There has been quite a bit mentioned about The Big Society recently. In essence this means power transported away from Government right down to community level. It is about liberating social capital to unleash community spirit - empowering local charities and voluntary groups to do what they do best - without government or bureacracy getting in the way.

On Thursday, I mentioned that charities Minister Nick Hurd was coming to town to see Harlow's Big Society alive and well. It was a very successful visit, as the Minister met with local councillors, and a range of community bodies including Rainbow Services, Michael Roberts Charitable Trust, Harlow Multi-faith forum and members of the Harlow Youth Council (including a visit to the Youth Cafe).

The purpose of his visit was not just to see the strength of the Big Society in our town, but to also urge the Minister to consider Harlow in the next wave of support from the national Big Society project. This would involve support for extra community organisers and some funding to strengthen some community projects.

It was a successful visit, which included the launch of Harlow Council Big Society Team and new Harlow Big Society Website. This website is well worth looking at closely, as it sets out Harlow Council's commitment to the Big Society and support for vibrant community organisations. As the website states, the role of the Harlow Big Society is as follows:

"Harlow Council has launched its own Big Society Team and is working together with Rainbow Services to take forward a range of services and initiatives that reflect Government aims to build strong, involved communities where people have a say in local decision making; where public services are opened up to new providers like charities and social enterprises and where social action and volunteering opportunities are encouraged and supported".

by Robert Halfon - www.roberthalfon.blogspot.com