Five Questions with ... Food Bank of Siouxland director Jacob Wanderscheid

SIOUX CITY — Food is a large part of the celebration of the Christmas holidays for many throughout Siouxland. Jacob Wanderscheid, executive director of the Food Bank of Siouxland, works to see that food-insecure residents in an 11-county area get food at the holidays and throughout the entire year.

Wanderscheid joined the food bank in August 2013 and was named executive director in 2020.

The Journal spoke with Wanderscheid last week about the work of the food bank and how the public can help this holiday season.

What types of donations are needed the most at the food bank?

“When I first started our biggest received and distributed product was canned vegetables. And that was somewhere near 300,000 pounds and the trend within Siouxland is we are fairly saturated and we have a great opportunity with our packing plants.

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In 2017, we expanded our freezer and cooler to hold a lot more product and really started seeing a shift but we really saw a shift from canned items to fresh and frozen protein and refrigerated dairy and really saw that grow. Those are the things that people want to see the most. We really like to provide that protein, fresh produce and dairy.

We always encourage the general public to call and ask and really target a donation. Also, what would you most like to receive if you were hungry? Ask yourself when you make that donation, what is something you really find helpful, necessary and would really want to have in your pantry at home. That’s a great donation to give.”

How does the food bank work?

“Again the food bank is a collection site. We are an organization that will go to donors of all types, financial corporations and manufacturers and retail locations and pick up product that they would like to donate. We bring it back to the warehouse, sort through it, put it on a menu that a non-profit organization can come in and pick up stuff that we have set aside for pickups or we do have a menu that has pre-selected items like cases of corn, mixed fruit, cases of ground beef that are on the menu they can either have delivered or pick up.

Most of the food pantries that we work with are volunteer-led and kind of do it on the side and we work really hard that there’s a food pantry available every day in the metro Sioux City area. And we try to have a good pattern that we are getting to as many communities as we can outside of the metro area.”

How big of an area are you a conduit for donations?

We cover an 11-county area. We are probably an hour and a half in most directions from Sioux City. That’s about as far as we go.

What do you enjoy about your job here?

“I think the thing that I enjoy the most is knowing that we are helping somebody and we can immediately see that. When I first started we had a lot more ability to get out and meet the people we work with. Again we have over 100, 106 agencies we work with. Without them we really couldn’t do the work. We work as hard as we can to be a 365-day supplier to our partners that hand out food to people in need. “

What are you thankful for this year?

“I think I am thankful for the friends that we’ve made and the network we are able to work with.”

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Your Questions Answered: What are corporate FDs and how are they different from bank FDs?

Corporate fixed deposits or company fixed deposits are term deposits kept for a set amount of time at a set interest rate. Financial institutions such as non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), provide corporate fixed deposits. Many corporate FDs have maturities that can range from a few months to a few years. Like banks, RBI permits selective NBFCs to accept deposits for a fixed interest rate and tenure. Such deposits are known in the common parlance as company or corporate fixed deposits. 

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Disclaimer: This is not an investment advisory. The article above is for information purposes only. Investments in the securities market are subject to market risks, read all the related documents carefully before investing. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Please consider your specific investment requirements, risk tolerance, goal, time frame, risk and reward balance, and the cost associated with the investment before choosing a fund that suits your needs. The performance and returns of any mutual funds can neither be predicted nor guaranteed.

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Note: This is for informational purposes. Please speak to a financial advisor for detailed solutions to your questions.

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Published: 15 Dec 2023, 09:38 AM IST

Questions in Parliament about South Bank academy trust

QUESTIONS have been asked in Parliament about the accountability of a York schools academy trust chain.

York Central MP Rachael Maskell claimed, in a question to Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt last Thursday, that the leadership of York’s South Bank multi academy trust (MAT) was ‘impossible to hold to account’.

She also claimed that children at South Bank schools were experiencing ‘significant harm, school refusal, and an escalation in their own mental wellbeing’ as a result of decisions made by the trust’s leadership.

Ms Maskell’s intervention followed a public meeting called by Micklegate ward councillors on November 30 to discuss concerns over the way the trust was being run.

That in turn followed the mass resignation of the board of governors at Scarcroft Primary School earlier this year in a row over changes to terms and conditions for teaching assistants at the trust, to which Scarcroft belongs.

The trust declined an invitation to attend the November 30 public meeting, saying it had ‘caused distress to colleagues’.

But it has issued a statement strongly repudiating Ms Maskell’s claims made in Parliament - and challenging her to provide the trust with details of children she believes are at risk.

“We are very concerned that Ms Maskell has stated in The Press that children are ‘experiencing significant harm…and an escalation in their own mental wellbeing’ while details of these allegations have not been provided to the schools or the Trust,” a spokesperson said.

“We have asked that Ms Maskell informs us urgently of the names of children who she is asserting are unsafe.”

In her question to Ms Mordaunt, Ms Maskell called for an ‘urgent debate’ about holding the leadership of multi academy trusts to account.

She continued: "It seems that multi academy trust leaders are not accountable for their actions and are impossible to hold to account, not least at South Bank MAT where children are experiencing significant harm, school refusal, and an escalation in their own mental wellbeing.”

In a statement released afterwards, Ms Maskell said her question had followed ‘significant concerns raised by a large number of parents'.

She said: "I have had many concerned parents writing to me to share their deeply worrying stories about the impact on their children's health, wellbeing and education, through the decisions being made by the leadership of the South Bank Multi Academy Trust.

“I have heard about the impact the newly imposed punitive and disciplinary policies have had on children's day to day lives in school; I have been told of how the cuts and subsequent loss of trusted Teaching Assistants at the schools has impacted on neurodivergent children. Something urgently needs to change.

"I know there are fantastic staff in the South Bank MAT schools. (But) the Trust leadership needs to understand that children are suffering, parents are worried, and the community has lost trust in the trust.”

But in a strongly-worded statement, the academy trust said Ms Maskell had made claims that were ‘simply untrue’. “Each school within our Trust has its own behaviour policy and its own system for managing behaviour, which are designed to support all children to learn and thrive,” a spokesperson said.

“Such policies are not ‘punitive’, they do not cause harm, nor are they mandated centrally; our behaviour policies are very carefully considered by school leaders and are approved by our schools’ local governing bodies.

“We are concerned that Ms Maskell’s comments may adversely affect the wellbeing and morale of our wonderful colleagues and distract from their key purpose in educating our children.

“The Trust has not cut the number of teaching assistants. In fact, the provision for our most vulnerable pupils has improved significantly over the last 18 months. Staff in our schools are justly proud of the support offered to all children, including neurodiverse children and those with special educational needs.

“The Trust has in place clear processes for parents and carers to raise concerns. We are always very willing to engage with any parents who have genuine and specific concerns to share with us, however it is imperative that they raise these via the appropriate channels - directly with their child’s school.”

Here is the South Bank Multi Academy Trust's statement in full:

​“South Bank MAT, like all MATs, is held to account and very much welcomes a wealth of scrutiny from Ofsted, the Department for Education and the Education and Skills Funding Agency, as well as internal and external audits and significant scrutiny from our committed Trust Board.

"Our governance arrangements are in line with the requirements of the DfE and our articles of association.

“Over the last week Ms Maskell has made assertions about our Trust which are simply untrue.

"Our Trust and our schools do not apply a one-size-fits-all approach. Each school within our Trust has its own Behaviour Policy and its own system for managing behaviour, which are designed to support all children to learn and thrive while at school.

"Such policies are not “punitive”, they do not cause harm, nor are they mandated centrally; in fact, our behaviour policies are very carefully considered by our committed and experienced school leaders and are approved by our schools’ local governing bodies, all of which include parent governors.

“We are concerned that Ms Maskell’s comments may adversely affect the wellbeing and morale of our wonderful colleagues and distract from their key purpose in educating our children. This is particularly concerning in the midst of a teacher recruitment crisis.

“As we have reiterated on numerous occasions since the support staff consultation concluded in January 2023, the Trust has not cut the number of teaching assistants. In fact, the provision for our most vulnerable pupils has improved significantly across the Trust over the last 18 months.

"Staff in our schools are justly proud of the support offered to all children, including neurodiverse children and those with special educational needs. Our Ofsted reports confirm that our provision is not as Ms Maskell describes.

“All staff members, leaders and schools together make up our family of schools and we all work together for the benefit of our children. “The MAT” is not a separate entity; we are all “the MAT” and so when Ms Maskell makes statements which are not reflective of the reality of the wonderful things which happen in our schools, this is extremely saddening for us all.

“We are very concerned that Ms Maskell has stated in the press that children are “experiencing significant harm…and an escalation in their own mental wellbeing” while details of these allegations have not been provided to the schools or the Trust. We have asked that Ms Maskell informs us urgently of the names of children who she is asserting are unsafe so that we are able to take immediate action in line with our safeguarding procedures.

“The Trust has in place clear processes for parents and carers to raise concerns and complaints relating to their children. The Trust is unable to resolve such matters when they are raised in public forums. We are always very willing to engage with any parents who have genuine and specific concerns to share with us, however it is imperative that they raise these via the appropriate channels - directly with their child’s school.”