How church helps hungry families
A CHURCH has been keeping Salford families from starving for just £2.50 a week - and it all started with one cooker and a tiny camping fridge.
St James Church in Lower Broughton gives £14 worth of food donated by supermarkets to local families who need it the most every week.
As part of UK charity Fare Share’s scheme, the 10 essential food items include meat, eggs, fish and poultry products, fruit and vegetables, chilled food, pasta, ready meals and much more.
Rev Christine Threlfall runs the initiative, alongside a team of eight volunteers.
She said “It’s a different model from the food bank model.”
“The food bank model is about crisis provision – a lot of food banks will only support families three times a year.
“Our food pantry model is about dignity and choice. With us, they get to come and choose what food they would like every week and the only criteria is that they live 15 minutes away for food safety reasons.”
Volunteers have also been dishing out hundreds of meals every week from their tiny kitchen as part of the St James lunch club in the church hall, on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
The team cooks more than 100 hot free meals every week for local people including the homeless, elderly and families on low incomes.
“We work very hard to help a lot of
people, from a lot of hard working families who are just doing their best,” said Rev Christine Threlfall.
“We have young people, older people, some people who are homeless and some people who suffer from isolation.
“Some are suffering from mental health issues, some people need the food and some people just need the company.”
With only one work surface, a small sink and one single oven, they had been providing food for hundreds of people on the breadline every week.
The volunteers struggled with their tiny kitchen, limiting the number of people they could help.
Six weeks ago, Salix Homes and their partner contractor Emanuel Whittaker upgraded and extended the old kitchen facilities, allowing the lunch club to welcome even more people through its doors. A new sink and double oven has been installed, along with a new food preparation area, and more plug sockets have also been put in. Rev Threlfall said: “The old kitchen was a nightmare. “When we first started this two and a half years ago, we only had one fridge. “We had a mini camping fridge that could just about fit a pint of milk.” Every Christmas the church provided a free Christmas lunch for people who would be on their own.
“It was really difficult cooking Christmas dinner for 40 people who would otherwise be on their own, off a single oven and four rings – it was about as near to impossible as you could get. “The new kitchen has made a massive difference. We could never turn someone away, but we were really struggling for capacity.
“Now we can help so many more people, which will have a real impact on people’s physical, emotional and mental health, as we can serve more meals and bring people together.”
Salix Homes has been working alongside Emanuel Whittaker to improve properties across Lower Broughton as part of its multi-million pound investment to homes and communities across Salford.
Ben Cruickshanks, neighbourhood manager at Salix Homes, said: “Salix Homes is committed to supporting the communities where we are delivering our home improvement schemes.
“We’ve been proud to support St James Church with various projects over the years, so when we heard they were struggling with the outdated kitchen facilities, we were more than happy to ask our contractors Emanuel Whittaker to carry out the work.
“The lunch club and food pantry provide a lifeline for the local community, so we hope the new, modern facilities will enable Rev Christine and the volunteers to continue the wonderful work they do.”
John Gallagher, contracts director at Emanuel Whittaker, added: “The community had already made this project a success, so we were more than happy to provide our skills, labour and materials to improve it even further.”