Foodbank is important local lifeline
AT a time when both poverty and the cost of living are on the rise for working people, pensioners and the vulnerable, it’s the community of Reddish in Stockport that’s leading the way in helping locals get by.
Re:dish is a Stockport charity that aims to improve the lives of everybody in Reddish.
With the help of committed volunteers the local organisation strives to support the community through the distribution of targeted food parcels for the most vulnerable, as well as providing more specialised support to those in need.
While the foodbank based at the Bairstow Centre on Rupert Street has been established for a number of years, the last 12 months has seen a significant increase in the number of Reddish residents who have been helped by foodbank volunteers.
Open twice a week on Thursdays and Saturdays, the team of willing helpers greet local ‘clients’ with refreshments and as much practical help and advice as possible.
Each referred client comes to receive threedays of nonperishable food, enough to provide the basic essentials for their household, irrespective of the number of adults and children.
Due to the on going difficulties that local people face, the foodbank has seen a significant rise in the numbers of clients coming for help in the last 12 months and, while it’s their passion that we should see the numbers of those in need going down, local residents can be assured that for as long as there is a need, the foodbank will be there for them.
In November of this year Re:dish are expecting the complete roll-out of Universal Credit in Stockport and if the experiences of other foodbanks around the UK are reflected in Reddish, then the charity expect yet another increase in the number of Stockport residents needing help.
Without the volunteers and donations provided to the Re:dish project, the town’s foodbank would not exist and our thanks goes to each one of them who every week come along to help those in their own community in the most practical of ways.
I want to personally thank the organisers, volunteers and ordinary Stockport residents who contribute so much to the continued survival of this most important of local lifelines