Making a Difference: Our collaboration with CAB

The way we work has changed. Over the last few years, our foodbank has actively moved towards early intervention, addressing hardship by helping people resolve financial issues before they need to use us for food or other essentials.

The weekly Community Café and Advice Hubs in both Tadcaster and Wetherby are helping us and our partners address some of the issues that contribute to the hardship that often lies hidden within our wider rural and semi-rural district. Grants and donations have enabled us to fund a dedicated Citizens’ Advice advisor to attend every café session in both locations and this has been an essential factor in facilitating our change in approach.

Are these changes working? We believe so! A recent report from our partner, North Yorkshire Citizens Advice & Law, for both the Tadcaster and Wetherby Cafe sessions from July to September 2026 tells us the following:

• 52 people were helped with 127 issues, generating financial gains for them of £87,408
• The top five issues for clients were benefits (39), housing (16), Universal Credit (12) and utilities and employment (6)
• Clients were helped to manage debts totalling £7345, including debt written off.
• Of those clients completing questionnaires, 75% reported reduced stress levels after receiving advice and 75% reported improvements in their mental wellbeing.
• Citizens Advice is on track to work with its target of 150 clients over the year (81 as of Sept 2026).

Our Foodbank serves an area that crosses both North and West Yorkshire and we have been lucky enough to receive grants from both Leeds City Council’s and North Yorkshire Council’s Crisis Resilience Fund. We have also received money from the Co-Op Community Fund as well assistance in the form of financial donations from local businesses, organisations, groups and individuals. Together, all of this helps us fund this new café and advice hub format.

How have we adapted to the changes?

Key volunteers and roles within our foodbank have needed additional training and this is coming from the wider Trussell Network and also from Citizens Advice with their ‘Advice First Aid’ training. Our Café team leaders and volunteers are now working in a different environment from a traditional foodbank setting. Residents may attend for food, refreshments, social connection, advice or support, and our volunteers are now confident in responding appropriately to a much wider range of needs.

How sustainable is the project?

We are delighted that the changes to the way we work are having a real impact but it is still early days, especially for the Tadcaster Café. As word spreads, however, we hope more and more people will make use of the services on offer.

The costs of providing the community cafe and advice service, alongside the foodbank offering in both Wetherby and Tadcaster, is significant. This means we need to ensure sustainability through effective fundraising.

If you’d like to help to support our Community Cafe and Advice Hubs in any way be it through corporate sponsorship, financial donations, volunteering or partner attendance providing signposted services, please get in touch.

Ultimately, our primary objective is that EVERYONE who attends a Community Café should leave feeling better off, whether this be financially or socially via a cuppa and a friendly interaction.

For more information on our cafes, please take a look at our previous blogs:

Community Cafe Reaches One Year Milestone

Foodbank Partners’ Event, Wetherby 

Foodbank Partners’ Event, Tadcaster

Foodbank Partnership with CAB

Introducing Wetherby’s and Tadcaster’s Community Cafes

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