Profile piece, Shyane Siriwardena

Regular readers of our newsletter will know that each month, we shine a light on someone who supports our Foodbank to learn a bit more about their role and their background. This month, we spoke to one of our newest volunteers, Shyane Siriwardena, about her experience as a volunteer and what she finds most rewarding about being a part of our Foodbank family.

Read on the learn more about Shyane, why she got involved with the Foodbank, and her upbringing in Canada.

Can you tell us a bit about your background?

I was born in Canada to Sri Lankan parents and grew up in Hamilton, Ontario – this is a place that basically no one has heard of, including other Canadians! My family relocated to Ottawa which is also where I attended university and I was fortunate to be able to live with my parents throughout that stage of my higher education.

I relocated to the UK in 2011 to continue my education and eventually completed a PhD in philosophy. I’ve now lived in both Cambridge and Leeds and love both cities. For work, I am part of the team at the University of Cambridge that is working on its ‘Foundation Year Programme’. This is a bridging programme to support students who have faced disadvantaged circumstances to be ready for their studies at the University. I am incredibly fortunate to say that I adore my job.

What is your current role at the Foodbank?

I currently volunteer roughly once a week at the Chesterton Methodist Welcome Centre and have been doing so for around two months. Since my first day, I have been welcomed by an incredible team of volunteers and have felt like I’ve really hit the ground running. The Team Leaders have also been very helpful in explaining the different processes and responsibilities to me.

Each shift is different but I try to throw myself into whatever needs to be done. I help to set up the centre before we welcome our visitors, arrange the packages of food and spend time chatting to the visitors. I’m not involved in the logistics side of things but other than that, I strive to try my hand at everything I can.

What is it that made you want to volunteer at our Foodbank?

I’ve always enjoyed volunteering. In Ontario, you have to take part in 40 hours of community service in order to complete your high school diploma; I think this helped to instil a belief that if I have the means to help then I should. I completed my hours by volunteering to teach music to students at a local elementary school. Since then, I have almost always done some sort of volunteering in my community.

Before July, I’d never volunteered at a food bank before, but I could visibly see that the levels of poverty in Cambridge were worse than when I first moved here. Cambridge is a strange place because there is such vast wealth but also real pockets of deprivation. You can literally walk down King’s Parade and see someone asking for money for food and shelter outside of a place like King’s College. These scenes really made me want to do something and, while no one person can end food insecurity, we can all play a small role.

I live in Arbury and one day I walked past the Fairbite food club in Arbury Court. This inspired me to find out about Cambridge City Foodbank and I instantly felt that I wanted to offer to volunteer. It just so happens that I was on the phone to my mum at the same time as I was writing my email application and because of this, she now also volunteers at a food bank back in Ottawa!

What are some of the things that you find most rewarding about volunteering with us?

One of the things that I absolutely love about the Foodbank is that, first and foremost, it treats people like people. Every single volunteer and staff member at the Foodbank goes above and beyond to make sure that our visitors feel welcomed, supported and valued.

When someone is facing crisis and needs emergency food support, I think there can be a tendency to dismiss their emotional needs and focus on just dealing with the issue at hand. It is clear that the Foodbank cares deeply about its visitors’ emotional needs too and, when appropriate, volunteers are encouraged to converse and spend time listening to our visitors. Social isolation is a real issue and sometimes, we may be the only people that the visitors speak with on that day. Being able to converse with our visitors and break that feeling of isolation is something that I find incredibly powerful and rewarding.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not at work or volunteering with the Foodbank?

As I mentioned earlier, I am very fortunate in that I absolutely love my work, but when I have some free time, I like to participate in different sports. I regularly take part in karate training and weightlifting. I am definitely not a body builder but I really enjoy it. I also took up yoga last year as I realised that I focus a lot on strength training and wanted to improve my flexibility.

Outside of sports, I love music and really enjoy going into London for the symphony when I can. I’m also really into reading, as well as both tabletop and video games.