Food Distribution Hub Supervisor

We're looking for a Food Distribution Hub Supervisor, currently operating 5 days a week 8am-8pm. This will soon increase to 6 days a week. The Hub Supervisor will be working 35 hours a week according to a rota agreed with the Director of Projects. Volunteer shift supervisors will fill the rest of the rota.

The Food Distribution Hub Supervisor will be the main person responsible for the on-the-ground supervision of the operation of the Hub, and the management of the volunteer packers and riders, as well as a number of volunteer shift leaders who, working with the Hub supervisor, will cover the hours of operations of the Hub.

You will work closely with the Director of Projects and with the wider team who support the Hub: managing the daily list of recipients, liaising with the volunteer riders, procuring the equipment and consumables, cleaning and taking care of the building, fundraising and financial management, etc.

You will also gain a unique perspective across an enterprising and growing organisation and be a part of our wonderful team of dedicated individuals.

Main duties

-Supervise the working of the hub: provide on the ground line management to volunteers, and act as first port of call for pastoral and administrative support, feedback, and in cases of emergency.
-Problem-solve on the ground in all matters relating to the Distribution Hub and health and safety of the volunteers.
-Ensure that up to date food hygiene and social distancing measures are adhered to by all centre staff, volunteers and delivery riders, and that the measures are regularly reviewed and updated to reflect the evolving needs of the hub, especially as we increase capacity to meet a growing need.
-Ensure that the physical set-up of the Centre adheres to prepared instructions and that signage and floor markings are installed, and updates are coordinated with PH staff as necessary, and installed for each shift.
-Receiving our daily deliveries of food and sorting and storing them appropriately in our cupboards, fridges and freezers.
-Depending on the daily delivery and the number of recipient households on the day, drawing up the packing list for individual portions going out to recipient households.
-Act as the Fire Warden, First Aider and Project Safeguarding Officer.
-Work with the Director of Projects in implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and continual development and improvement of processes.
-Communicate effectively with the cleaner/cleaning contractor to arrange shifts and control quality.
-Take stock of cleaning, hygiene and packing supplies and communicate in time with PH staff coordinating the supply chain.
-Make arrangements for changes to building services such as waste collection, repairs and maintenance.
-Manage the budget assigned to the Food Distribution Hub
-Take part in regular weekly virtual team meetings of all staff or smaller project-based teams helping foster effective team-working and a coherent approach across all our activities.
-Contribute to developing the learning framework for our organisation as a whole by taking part actively in discussions.
-Take part in the life of Pembroke House by mucking in when a team effort is required to get something done.

The person we appoint to this role will be a doer, a problem-solver, someone who can keep a cool head and is unfazed when deliveries are late and shifts need flexing, and packing lists need drafting and redrafting in real time. You will be able to work at speed and under stress, while always being motivating and having a positive and encouraging approach towards all involved: volunteers packers and riders, delivery drivers and the rest of the team.

You will be an avid learner, and excited by the process of learning, both for yourself and for everyone involved. Flexibility and the ability to change your ways of doing things to suit the circumstances is important for this role.

You will be fantastic organiser, able to switch between getting hands-on involved with the physical reception and sorting of the food, making quick logistical decisions and calculations based on the food delivered to us on the day, and taking care of and listening to the volunteers, ensuring their health, safety & safeguarding.

Person Specification

Skills, Knowledge and Training

-Excellent communication skills
-Numerate: able to take stock of several daily deliveries and create continuously updated packing lists based on the amounts delivered and the numbers/composition of recipient households, often to very short and moving deadlines which are based on other parts of the supply chain over which we do not have control.
-Able to think on feet and solve problems fast as they arise
-Level 2 Food Safety & Hygiene Certificate
-Current (within the last 3 years) Emergency First Aid at Work Certificate
-Able to act as Fire Warden
-Basic DIY & maintenance skills

Experience

-Experience of supervising staff and volunteers
-Experience in hospitality or the food industry
-Experience of planning and delivering logistics-based services

Personal attributes

-An explicit and unflinching positive approach and temperament
-The ability to keep smiling and motivating the team under situations of continuous stress
-Confidence and a presence and authority to ensure strict adherence to H&S and social distancing measures
-Ability to receive feedback and suggestions from volunteers and the assertiveness to make decisions and communicate with them accordingly
-Physically able to lift food boxes and crates weighing up to 15kg

Special conditions

-Sensitive to the ethos of St Christopher’s Church
-Ability to work outside of normal office hours including evenings and weekends

Confidentiality

-Ability to operate with a high degree of confidentiality and diplomacy, including amongst colleagues

If you have any questions about the role then please be in touch with Ali Kaviani, Director of Projects at [email protected]

Pembroke House is a settlement with a long history in Walworth, near Elephant & Castle in Southwark. We work across the neighbourhood – alongside charity, voluntary and statutory partners – to improve our community’s health, wellbeing and resilience.

In normal times we run over 30 activities at two sites, which are accessed weekly by 500+ people. These include a music academy, a lunch club, gardening for wellbeing, dance classes for learning-disabled young people, and a community café.

During the Covid-19 crisis, we are operating a food distribution hub that currently serves 450 households a week; managing a neighbourhood website (walworthse17.info); and running a programme of virtual activities.

The Food Distribution Hub

From 1 April 2020, from a standing start, and with a lot of help from partner organisations, we have:

-Transformed our building into a Food Distribution Hub
-Developed robust hygiene, health and safety, and social distancing processes
-Advertised for and recruited volunteers – both to operate the distribution hub and to deliver packages to recipients. So far, over 250 people have signed up to help.
-Secured a donated supply of half the food we want to deliver over a three-month period from FareShare, a charity that redistributes surplus food to avoid food waste, and receive another third as donations from other charities and partners
-Established a pilot of the distribution hub and delivery service, running five days a week and delivering to c. 450 households

In the next three months, we want to build on and develop the distribution hub. From 27 April we expanded our operation from 3 days to 5, working 8am-8pm, and the number of families we deliver to from 300 to 450. The list of recipients is growing daily and we anticipate that this growth will continue for some time, even after lockdown is lifted - a large number of our recipients are members of the community that are most vulnerable to COVID-19, or who faced severe financial difficulties and food insecurity even prior to the current emergency. The pandemic has worsened their circumstances severely. We plan to increase our capacity to reach 1500 households, almost 5000 members of the community.

The logistical challenge that this introduces to the operation is significant.