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:
“We provide 80 snack bags which are delivered to the parents every Friday. Without the food donations provided by FareShare Greater Manchester the parents may not have anything to eat. The families really look forward to getting the snack bags on a Friday and say it feels like a normal evening, where they can get together and enjoy the food and have their siblings join in with them.”
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.
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.
“It helps our food budget go further, which in turn leads to less stress, also there’s a social side to it. There’s a group of us who always meet up now, we go to Pantry together, have a brew together, we’ve become great friends, and we’re from three different generations! That’s great for people’s mental wellbeing.”
A member of Brinnington Pantry
Stockport
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:
This was an amazing achievement, considering they are:
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.
“Without FareShare GM we wouldn’t have been able to operate on the scale we have been during the pandemic. They have provided fantastic amounts of food which reached hundreds of people within the borough. It’s just myself, the pantry assistant and our volunteers, so without the food coming in or being delivered we wouldn’t have been able to sustain the pantry model.
We get brilliant feedback from our members about the food. What people really love about what we receive from FareShare is the variety. They love the aspect of never quite knowing what they’ll get, that’s the beauty of it! I want to say thank you so much to FareShare GM and all the volunteers that help day in, day out. Without them we wouldn’t be able to open. We’re now looking to set up another pantry in Stockport so FareShare GM’s support will be vital for us as we move forward.”
Elena Vacca
Community Food Officer
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.
Community-owned football club FC United of Manchester set up its COVID-19 Food Hub in March 2020. The move comes in response to England entered its first period of national lockdown.
The Food Hub was established in collaboration with the North Manchester Business Network and Manchester City Council to support households in North Manchester who could not access their usual help networks. Typically, they were elderly single households or those that had cases of Covid-19 in the house. The Food Hub has also become increasingly important to those in financial crisis awaiting Universal Credit payments following a job loss or those. For instance, refugees, who have lost their job and are denied access to any public funding.
During lockdown, FC United became one of the biggest food charity destinations in Greater Manchester. The Food Hub receives just under 19 tonnes of food from us between March and August. In short, that’s the equivalent to 44,645 meal portions.
“Our partnership with FareShare Greater Manchester has enabled us to massively expand our community outreach at a time when it has never been more needed. We’d like to offer our sincere thanks to all at FareShare for their help – from volunteers, delivery drivers, background staff and admin staff who have been exemplary in their support of our project. Unfortunately, we don’t see an end to the help that we will have to offer. With the continuous generous support from organisations like FareShare, we can continue to deliver help where people need it in ever increasingly challenging times.”
Vinny Thompson,
Project Leader at the FC United Food Hub
Now in the second lockdown of the year, FC United is once again seeing a surge in demand. Accordingly, they plan to reach even more families over the winter period.
You can support FC United’s Food Hub by offering your time as a volunteer. For more information, contact office@fc-united.co.uk or visit the website.
Pictures courtesy of FC United/Matt Wilkinson @stellapicsltd
July 2018 – The national charity Mind runs a wellbeing service that offers counselling and training to people of all ages in Greater Manchester facing mental health issues. A core part of this facility is the Mind and Topaz Café which provides over 200 meals per week.
Fareshare Greater Manchester has been providing weekly food deliveries, inducing fresh fruit and vegetables to the Topaz Café since November 2016. The café serves all vegetarian meals to promote the positive impact that a healthy diet can have on people’s mental health.
“The food we receive from FareShare keeps the café going, the essence of the café is that people feel comfortable and supported, allowing them to talk to someone and access more support if they need it. Its an open, welcoming space for people for come and enjoy food together where no one will judge them.”
Paul Garside
The Cafe’s Manager
The Mind and Topaz Café also welcomes food volunteers to support in the food service and prep, providing work experience in the service industry whilst accessing the support that they from Mind. One such volunteer is Jenna, who is accessing the services of Mind to support her with a learning disability. Jenna said “I do the pot wash and make the salads and prepare meals. I feel that I have lost weight since I started working here as I am eating so healthily and I feel much better for it. It’s a really nice place to work and I get on with all thee people who work here, it’s a good community.”