The Michael Roberts Charitable Trust is a well-established Christian-based charity aiming to develop lives in the Harlow area. We are probably best known for running the Harlow Foodbank. We also run other great projects: Maybury Open Door, The Bounty Club and Bump to Five and more.
MRCT's mission is to promote the value and significance of every person: offering help through life's obstacles and empowering them to develop their potential and self-confidence. By giving support and encouragement we provide opportunities for community integration, enabling everyone to help meet local social needs in a positive and practical way.
We are a small charity that offers huge amount of support to the town. This post mostly works with volunteers at our Housham Hall Farm based Store House. In 2024 the volunteers picked up, sorted, dated and packed up food into nearly 5,000 parcels. The Store House Coordinator oversees this work carried out by drivers and in-house volunteers.
Our team...
MRCT currently employs 21 people; some in part-time roles. We also attract amazing local volunteers whose generosity is the backbone of our work. Key to our success is treating them as valued colleagues alongside paid staff. Most are retired and are used to working in organisations. Some have learning difficulties and need a little oversight, and others come as volunteering teams from local busineeses, usually on a one day team-building or community service day.
Person Specification
Based at Housham Hall Farm , Matching Tye, CM17 0PB the role supports volunteers to receive, sort, store and pack donated food ready to be dispatched down to the Foodbank in Harlow Town Centre. It also coordinates other activities in the Store House such as receiving donated goods for other projects.
Working from 8.30 am to 1.30 pm weekdays the post holder should be a disciplined self-starter able to support a diverse range of volunteers each day as well as occasional groups of up to 8 volunteers from local businesses. The Store House is also supported by around 10 volunteer drivers who pick up from local supermarkets and other venues as well as transporting food parcels to the Foodbank. Like the in-house volunteers the drivers need to be coordinated and given clear instructions on a daily basis.
The post holder must have a driving license and preferably forklift experience (though this could be learned on the job) in order to be part of our transport team when not working alongside in-house volunteers. The job also involves a fair amount of lifting in order to ensure that volunteers have the food they need to pack each day.
With an aptitude for logistics and capability in simple but accurate data entry (to record incoming and outgoing food) the right person should also be ready to meet the many and varied people who generously drop off food to us: from schools to Scouts, businesses to local clubs we meet all kinds with a ready welcome and friendly smile.
The Foodbank also undertakes many other relationship-based activities with partner agencies, donors and voluntary agencies in the town. The role needs flexibility to adapt to the various offers that come our way: our motto is to 'always say yes', being ready to serve our neighbours in need and take advantage of help with initiative, positivity and imagination.
DESIRABLE SKILLS:
Ability to plan and organise the day to day running of the Store House
Strong interpersonal skills including the understanding to support disabled and vulnerable people
Good communication - both written and oral
Relationship management with outside partners
Write clear and precise reports
Driver with clean driving license
Forklift license
PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES:
Ability to work unsupervised
Ability to work under pressure and to deadlines
Honesty and integrity
Ability to lead and work as part of a team
Value all the people who come into contact or work with MRCT
Respective of the Christian values and principles of MRCT
TRAINING:
Fire Marshalls
First Aid
Manual Handling
Basic Food Handling / Storage (ambient)
Induction Training - Procedure for welcoming service users
For your information and application process:
The person currently doing this task is being promoted to a role in an expansion of our work and will be your line manager. He will offer sound know-how and on-hand support in the post during the induction period.
The post is open to all applicants that meet the Person Specification which may include someone currently in retirement with the capability to perform the lifting tasks that go with the job. As these are essential to delivery of the role that capability will be monitored as a performance requirement.
We are recruiting on a rolling basis as we are ready to employ - we will set an interview deadline when suitable candidates have come forwards.
You are welcome to visit the site: directions are here
A video of the operations in the Store House is available here:
https://youtu.be/IVNAXC2sZ8g?si=MtzZxogKPcyl1Mag
If you are interested in the role please register your interest with a short summary of why you are suitable for it to alisonkeir@mrct.org.uk - we will then send you the full and answer any quesries you have.
If you have any questions before then please call 01279 724515.