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.
‘It’s been a huge privilege to be part of the FSGM slow cooker project! There has been such joy in the room as people bounced slow cooker recipes around, tried new food, or in some cases learnt about slow cookers and the energy saving benefits for the first time’- Nic Ward, Manchester Settlement Community Manager
