Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Charity that feeds needy with dignity
Families choose at new shop venture
IT looks just like any other store, with shelves full of tins and fresh fruit and veg.
But no money changes hands here – instead, it is offering both food and dignity to cash-strapped families in Belfast.
Storehouse, in North Street, is a charity that originally offered prepacked food parcels. Now up to 100 households in the area browse the shelves for what they want, just as they would in a supermarket.
Chairman Alan Carson said: “One of our main values at Storehouse is the restoration of dignity, alongside recognising significance and releasing hope to all those that we serve, and those who work alongside us.
“We do this through provision, community and growth.
“But for a while now we’ve felt like our existing food provision service wasn’t fully reflecting the value of dignity.
“For the past 13 years, we’ve given away pre-packed food bags, which have been a blessing and a lifeline to thousands of families across our city.
“But there isn’t a ton of dignity in a pre-packed food bag. We’ve never been able to give people a choice in the food that they received and we believe that having a choice goes a long way to restoring dignity.”
The shop is based on a points system set up rather than money and depends on family size.
Alan added: “You’ve only got a certain amount of points to spend with a maximum and minimum spend per visit and within certain food categories too. Above all, there’s much more freedom for people to pick and choose.” Around four years ago, Storehouse started to grow its own vegetables for food parcels in a polytunnel at one of its warehouses, and the team hopes to use its own seasonal produce in the shop in the future.
Matt Orme, partnership manager, said: “The shop was put together with the help of our incredible volunteers. They painted walls, scraped floors, built all the shelving, carried two enormous fridges up two flights of stairs, stocked shelves and helped us put all the systems in place.”
The new shop was officially opened last week by the High Sheriff of Belfast, Michael Long, and the first customers have began visiting.
Alan added: “We love this wonderful new space and feel it really helps to create that real supermarket feel.”