The East Lothian Food Bank Manager will play a critical role in ensuring the long-term sustainability and growth of our essential local services during challenging times and in the face of increasing demand. The post holder will work with the Board of Trustees to implement a 3-year business plan for the organisation ensuring delivery of our strategic aims, including creative measures to help those experiencing food poverty and deprivation in East Lothian by supporting and encouraging self-help and support schemes, mobilising voluntary and community resources and accessing new sources of funding which can extend the reach, scope and scale of operation of the organisation. The post holder will have the skills and experience to develop and support a strong team of staff, volunteers and external partners committed to ensuring no one in need in East Lothian goes without food. Further priorities will include securing income from fundraising and grant income for our core crisis service and developing and resourcing ‘more than food’ projects; management and development of our staff team; and taking a strategic lead in helping shape local responses to the root causes of food poverty across East Lothian.

There may always be a need for our crisis food service, but we believe with the right management we are well placed as an organisation to increase delivery of a range of services and projects to a scale that can have an impact on reducing demand for crisis food interventions and on the issues that contribute to food poverty and insecurity in the county more broadly. We are looking for a candidate with the ambition, experience and passion to help us grow our services with this in mind, while ensuring we continue to deliver a ‘gold standard’ crisis food service to those that need it, when they need it, during the most challenging of times.

Working with families affected by parental substance use

Circle is a Scottish charity providing family support services to some of the most marginalised children and families in Scotland.

Funded by East Lothian Council, the purpose of the post is to provide individual, peer based and group work support to children and young people affected by parental drug and/or alcohol use. The Children’s Resilience Worker will build upon children’s and young people’s existing strengths, support them to connect with peers and to build resilience. Through the development of this support, the post will help minimise the impact of parental substance use. The post holder will work alongside parents and carers, the wider team and statutory and voluntary sector colleagues to enable holistic support at the earliest opportunity.

Applicants should possess a qualification in social work, social care, education or health, and have relevant experience.

The East Lothian Foodbank Operations Co-ordinator will deliver day-to-day operations within the Foodbank, working closely with our committed volunteer team and under direction of the Foodbank Manager to ensure provision of emergency food parcels to those in need in challenging times through our crisis food service. This role is key to ensuring we maintain our core service to ‘gold standard’.

The role holder will be responsible for coordinating donations of food, stocks, and for monitoring referrals to the Foodbank, and supporting collation of data on foodbank referrals and stocks distributed for the Trussell Trust. The safety and wellbeing of our clients, volunteers and staff is a priority and as such the role holder will play a key role in ensuring we are fully compliant and able to fulfil our obligations under Food Standards legislation and with regard to workplace health and safety.

The operations co-ordinator must maintain good working relations with our referral agents and partners and ensure our volunteers are well supported. East Lothian Foodbank could not run effectively if it were not for the contributions of our volunteers and the Operations Co-ordinator must support, motivate, and recognise their contributions and talents. The core values of East Lothian Foodbank must always be observed and promoted to ensure we offer the best possible support to those in food crisis.

The East Lothian Foodbank Administrator will be responsible for all administrative tasks supporting referrals to our crisis service, and other administrative duties as directed by the Foodbank Manager. Duties will include coordinating referrals received via phone and email, processing referrals for crisis service packages, handling client and referral partner information in line with data handling policy and procedures, notifying Foodbank Manager and Operations Coordinator of specific requests or requirements, and taking care of day-to-day contacts with partners, clients and others with regards to our crisis service. The Administrator will often be first point of contact for clients, partners and referrers and must have a positive, can-do attitude and be prepared to go the extra mile to ensure those we support can access our crisis service and are referred to other services are required. The role holder will also support the work of the Comms and Outreach Manager as required.

This role is key to ensure we maintain our core service to ‘gold standard’. The Administrator must maintain good working relations, not only with our referral agents and partners, but also with our volunteers. The core values of East Lothian Foodbank must always be observed and promoted to ensure we offer the best possible support to those in food crisis.