Each week, Kala Mandviwala from Tameside Meals Project comes to our Manchester warehouse. Kala buys supplies for her team of volunteers to cook up to 200 meals for those in need.

Tameside Meals Project started during Covid in August 2021 and was meant to be a six-month-long project. It’s continued thanks to the support of Tameside Borough Council allowing Kala and her team to prepare the meals in the kitchen at Hyde Town Hall. Each week, the volunteers cook up several different dishes using the ingredients from FareShare Greater Manchester.

How FareShare helps the Tameside Meals Project

Kala says the meals may be the only hot food the recipients get that day and there’s a real need. She gets her food from FareShare Greater Manchester as the ingredients are traceable. The meals they produce adhere to strict food safety regulations.

Kala and her team produce meals to high hygiene standards, ensuring balanced nutrition with carbohydrates, protein and several vegetables in each portion. They prepare these meals in the kitchen at Hyde Town Hall every Tuesday, supported by the generosity of Tameside Borough Council. The meals then go to local charities and community groups who distribute them to those in need.

“Tears of relief, tears of joy”

One of the beneficiaries of the Tameside Meals Project is Tameside East Foodbank at Reach Church in Millbrook, Stalybridge. The church set up the foodbank after learning that local residents were walking as far as Ashton to collect emergency food parcels. As Andy Chadwick from the church says, “if someone can’t afford food, they can’t afford the bus fare or taxi fare to go and collect it”.

Other charity partners receiving meals include those serving the elderly, families and vulnerable young people. Kala says sometimes social workers will pop into the kitchen and ask for meals for their vulnerable clients. Wherever possible, she helps them out, catering to their dietary requirements.

Currently, Kala funds the Tameside Meals Project herself after the initial funding to source the food ran out. She’s applying for new funding in order to continue this much needed service into the future.

The Hope Centre community pantry, part of the Hidden Treasure Trust, launched during 2020 in the midst of the Covid pandemic. Based on Wood Lane in Partington, it’s a place for local people to get help and access a variety of services.

The Hope Pantry is available to all local residents who are in need of assistance through a membership scheme. The community pantry stocks a wide range of basic essentials which have been supplied by FareShare Greater Manchester and donated by local businesses. Members can call in for groceries and assistance, but staff will also deliver to anyone who has just returned home after a hospital stay and needs supplies dropping off.

Members can access help through visiting advisors from Age Concern and the Citizens Advice Bureau. The Hope Centre also works in partnership with Your Housing Association and the Little Green Sock Project (which offers assistance with children’s clothing, school uniforms and toys). Visitors are also able to access gas and electricity support, gardening and digital support too.

For people finding themselves in need of emergency help with furniture and household items, a support fund is available which they can apply to for assistance.

Find out more about the Hope Centre, Partington.

FareShare Greater Manchester has been working with Westmorland Primary School in Brinnington since 2020. We support their MORE Food school scheme, offering food support to families.

In February this year, we expanded our partnership through the FareShare Foodies cooking project. The aim was to use surplus catering-sized and frozen foods to cook meals for each child to take home.

Over four Friday sessions, Westmorland Primary’s cook, Sharon Reilly from the Totally Local company prepared 610 meals. These included ten recipes: corned beef hash, katsu sweet chicken curry, vegetable curry, spaghetti carbonara, sweet chilli chicken noodles, sweet and sour chicken, pepperoni noodles in tomato sauce, plant-based tikka curry, chicken in laksa coconut sauce and smoky bean vegetable chilli.

Sharon Reilly, Westmorland Primary School’s cook said “With the backing of Totally Local, the company I work for, I really enjoyed creating meals for the Westmorland school community. The food from FareShare was exceptional quality. It made it a pleasure to prepare these meals.”

A member of staff at Westmorland Primary described their experience: “One child asked for more than one container of food for the rest of his family. He clearly knew that his family struggled managing money. He said: ‘When I take this home for tea tonight, Mum will be able to go and get gas this weekend. It ran out on Wednesday.’ His beaming smile told me that he was delighted to have been able to help feed his family.”

“An amazing project”

Martin Henderson, Headteacher at Westmorland Primary School, says the partnership has had many benefits. “It was an amazing project to become involved in alongside FareShare Greater Manchester. Working on this project allowed me to understand more fully how much even the youngest children think about, and indeed worry about where the next meal might come from. Over more than 20 years as Headteacher here at Westmorland Primary, I had not realised how much the children understood about food costs and budgeting.”

Feedback from families benefiting from the project has been positive. One parent said, “My son ate foods that he would never try at home – it’s a great project.” Another said “Thanks to everyone at FareShare and those that donate to FareShare for making this project happen. I hope it will continue.”

If you are from a school or organisation which caters for the community you serve (in addition to school meals) and you’re interested in finding out more about our catering offer, please contact membership@emergemanchester.co.uk.

Throughout Greater Manchester, there are charities doing their best to support those at the harshest end of food poverty, using whatever resources are available to them to help their local community, tackling food poverty, its root causes and endemic food waste.

Wigan’s Fur Clemt are no different. They’ve been working in partnership with FareShare Greater Manchester since 2016, but their history goes back to 2014 when they started as a partnership between The Brick, Wigan Parish Church and Food Positive. Over the years, they have grown to be one of FareShare GM’s largest charity partners and distribute food on our behalf to other pantries and food clubs in the area.

In 2023, they’ve moved on from their early days tackling holiday hunger and now run a community shop and cafe, with bundles of wrap-around support on offer as well. Their move to a former primary school, mid-pandemic, in 2021 has enabled them to go further and do that little bit more for the local community, and they now have over 4,100 active members making use of their facilities.

Membership is open to all, no matter your circumstances, and referrals aren’t needed in order to be able to go along and shop. For just a £5 fee per year, members can shop twice a week and choose from a selection of ambient, fridge and freezer goods, plus a wide range of fresh produce.

Their cafe is open five days a week and utilises produce and stock from FareShare GM to cook healthy, low-cost meals from breakfast sandwiches to full, hot lunches. The cafe is open to all and also provides a warm space for a nice, warm drink and the time to catch up with friends.

Emmie’s Kitchen is a family-run initiative in the heart of Manchester. They play a vital role in providing nourishment and support to parents with poorly children in the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. Jacqueline, one of the driving forces behind Emmie’s Kitchen, highlighted the impact of their partnership with FareShare Greater Manchester:

Emmie’s Kitchen has redistributed 8400kg of food from FareShare GM since June 2020. However, their work extends beyond the snack bags. They also deliver weekly takeaways, where families are treated to indulgent meals like fish and chips or Indian curries. Some parents have had to endure their children being hospitalised for extended periods, sometimes spanning years. In these difficult times, the Friday snack bags become something for families to look forward to. They can last for several days. With access only to a kettle and a microwave, the fresh fruits, ambient goods, and ready-made meals provided by FareShare Greater Manchester provide access to food, without parents needing to purchase food from the supermarket, which could be a financial burden during an already stressful period.

Emmie, the namesake of the organisation, recently won the Young Volunteer of the Year Award at the Spirit of Manchester Awards. You can watch their video in this Spirit of Manchester Awards feature.

Near Salford Quays and Ordsall, sits Oasis Academy: MediaCityUK. It’s a secondary school serving over 1,000 pupils from the area. However, as well as a school, the site also hosts the Oasis Community Hub. They have been a member of FareShare Greater Manchester since 2022.

Although they have been operating for a number of years, they sprung up providing emergency food during the pandemic. They’ve been cooking meals in the hub kitchen and delivering them to homes in the area. It’s been a huge help for families who weren’t able to get out themselves.

As the pandemic restrictions drew to a close, and the world opened up again, the Oasis team wanted to do something a little bit different. They opened a Community Food Store in July 2022, serving the local areas of Ordsall and Langworthy. Membership is open to everyone. Some members are school parents but most value the Hub for its community feel, regardless of school affiliation.

In the first week, only six visited the Food Store but by mid-July 2023, over 25 families attend weekly, with 60 members. Members can join for £5 annually and then shop weekly for £3.50 per visit.

At this cost, members access 10-12 items from dry storage, fridges and freezers. Fresh produce and bread are free, promoting healthy eating through Oasis team efforts. They like being able to give members the choice of what they believe their family will eat.

As time has gone on, the team have seen more members engaging with other projects in the Hub. This includes their Toddler groups and the Talk English Cafe, as well as finding a sense of belonging in the community food store itself. Others use the cafe space as a place to meet and socialise before picking up their week’s shopping. Other projects to widen the offer are in the pipeline, including cooking and fitness classes.

Building that sense of community is incredibly important to the whole team, with an emphasis on making sure that what the members of what that community want to see is represented. They’re constantly trying to get feedback on what they do, and want the space to be one where people can feel at home.

“All shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”- Julian of Norwich

The Well, based in St Peters House on Oxford Road was set up as a response to student food insecurity in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. The name ‘The Well’ was taken from a quote from Julian of Norwich, which was written during the outbreak of the plague in the 1300s. Her radical optimism during this period is what inspired The Well to honour her in their name.

During the Covid-19 lockdowns,  many students were able to return home for family support. However, there were also those left – often unseen and feeling forgotten – on campus. Some of these students were estranged from their families, some were Care Leavers, and some were asylum-seeking students with no home to return to. These students found they were cut off from their usual ‘safety nets’ of support. They also found themselves part of a stigmatised community, as they were blamed by the media for the spread of the virus. They often ended up suffering from poor mental health, isolation, and no access to finance or food.

What do they do?

The Well provides a weekly ‘Well Pack’ which includes meal kits for each night of the week. They design the menu around the daily recipes, and each pack comes with step-by-step instructions and everything needed to cook up a storm!

The team adapts recipes to use surplus food from FareShare GM. Each recipe is designed to complement one another and reduce food waste. They also make sure that there is enough food in each pack to supplement breakfast, lunch and snacks. This enables students who are facing food insecurity to eat nutritious food throughout the week. Students unable to cook fresh meals for themselves due to mental or physical health difficulties are provided with ready-made or cooked and frozen meals.

In 2020, 35% of students surveyed reported low or very low levels of food security. 41% were worried that their food would run out. Students also experienced increased mental health struggles, which was directly associated with the low levels of food security. A more recent study, published in 2023, suggests that the problem hasn’t gone away since the pandemic ended. Student hardship is particularly prominent in the North West, where 60% of respondents indicated they were facing food insecurity.

Who do the Well accept referrals from?

The Well accepts self-referrals and referrals from staff at any of the Manchester Universities. They will accept the referral of anyone who asks for help (or is referred) who is a student or staff member at any of the Manchester Universities and – depending on capacity – can take referrals from within the M15 community.

What else do they offer?

The Well is part of the wider work of St Peter’s House, the Chaplaincy to the Universities in Manchester. Alongside their food offer, The Well also provide a diverse range of holistic well-being resources. They offer an accessible and diverse Wholeness Programme, and a volunteer-led community café – Milk & Honey. The team at St Peter’s House are always available to talk to and be alongside the campus community.

The Manchester Settlement Food Pantry is an initiative driven by community volunteers who saw how people in the neighbourhood were struggling as the cost of living crisis started to set in. Partnering with Manchester Settlement provided the structure needed to grow this idea into the bustling food pantry it is today. The team provide a ‘big shop’ for around 30 individuals/families each week at a very reduced rate.

Tea, coffee and a friendly chat is available while the pantry members wait for the team to fill their bags. Whilst online Citizens Advice meetings are also offered at this time to address other issues that they may be facing.

More recently…

More recently, Manchester Settlement staff and pantry volunteers have taken part in the FareShare Slow Cooker Project. This enabled cookery classes to be delivered to the pantry members and they then received a free slow cooker to help towards the cost of cooking in the current energy crisis. The response has been amazing with over 20 slow cookers given out.

This project was then rolled out to other community projects at Manchester Settlement with a further 40 slow cookers filtering into the community. Since joining FareShare in March 2021, Manchester Settlement have distributed 43.45 tonnes of food. This equates to around 103,450 meals.

Your Local Pantry is a franchise project set up by Foundations Stockport in partnership with Church Action on Poverty. Residents in need in the community pay a small weekly fee of £3.50. In return, they can visit their local pantry and choose ten items of food each week for them and their family. The value of a typical food basket is around £20, saving members hundreds of pounds a year.

There are five Your Local Pantries in operation in Stockport, with a total of more than 40 across the country as a whole. This includes one of our other community food members, Lighthouse Pantry in Middleton.

The pantries run on the ethos that people have the ability to choose their own food and enjoy a tea or coffee with others while at the pantry, which helps to tackle social isolation and build a sense of community.

Flexible and adaptive

During the pandemic, Your Local Pantry had to adapt its model significantly. As a result, they teamed up with Stockport Council to provide emergency parcels to anyone struggling for food. From March to June, they delivered 4,756 food parcels to households that were vulnerable or self-isolating. This includes:

• Processing 1,277 emergency referrals and;
• Delivering 2,792 food parcels to people at home within 24 hours of the referral.

This was an amazing achievement, considering they are:

• Dependent on volunteers and;
• Must switch to an entirely new model in such a short space of time.

During the summer holidays, they also provided over 500 free packed lunches to families in the area. In addition, they recently piloted a new family membership scheme to provide a little bit more to families in need.

Since the pandemic, there has been an influx of 10-15 new members sign up each week. Accordingly, the five pantries in Stockport now regularly support around 200 households.

The impact of the change

You can read more about the great work of Your Local Pantry across the country in their 2021 Social Impact Report.

1st image: Elena (right) and pantry assistant Maz, taken before COVID-19.

2nd image: Your Local Pantry’s partner, First Stop Café in Brinnington, provided meals during the school holidays.

Before the COVID-19 crisis, Poplar Street Primary School in Tameside received weekly FareShare GM deliveries for its breakfast and after-school clubs, providing food for children in a borough where one in five are growing up below the poverty line.

About Poplar Street Primary and Lockdown

When the first lockdown hit in March 2020, Headteacher, Iain Linsdell, knew he had to find a way to keep getting food onto the plates of his most vulnerable pupils. Thanks to the amazing efforts of its teachers and staff, the school switched to distributing food parcels to local families and has become a vital support hub for the community.

Since the first lockdown, Poplar Street distributed nearly 16 tonnes of FareShare food to local families, equivalent to over 37,000 meal portions. At the height of the pandemic, the school was delivering almost 150 parcels a week.

Iain’s tireless work to support his community has been truly inspirational and has helped us all remember how important it is to work as hard as we can to help others through the current crisis.

Watch the short film below to learn more about Poplar Street’s amazing efforts:

These stories from Poplar Street Primary during the lockdown resonate as a reminder of the strength of collective resilience and the boundless capacity for human kindness. They illuminate the path forward—where communities unite to uplift the most vulnerable, leaving no one behind.