Finger lickin’ good doers help hungry
A FOOD bank in Manchester has teamed up with KFC to provide fried chicken for its community to help with the cost of living crisis.
Run by community hero Ibukun Ojedokun, The Spirit and Bride Kingdom mission foodbank, based in Atherton, Wigan, is helping those less fortunate each week, with food parcels and a warm place.
FareShare, the UK’s biggest charity fighting hunger and tackling food waste, helps redistribute surpluses of potentially wasted food across 10,000 charities and community groups across the UK. The KFC and FareShare relationship is already active in 650 KFC locations, and it will be expanded to all 1,000 KFC locations by the beginning of May 2023.
Fareshare provides an app called Fareshare Go Foodiverse which charities and community groups can use to find the nearest KFC restaurant giving away a surplus of chicken.
The fast-food chain donates the chicken frozen, allowing The Spirit and Bride foodbank to record the temperature of the frozen chicken, and take it back to the community centre where it is stored in the freezer.
Alongside the KFC chicken, a selection of hot food is available on-site with all meals being cooked by volunteers and served to those in need. The KFC chicken is also used as part of food parcels to take home with clear instructions for re-heating for those who are unable to travel to the food bank. Ibukun Ojedokun, Director at The Spirit and the Bride Kingdom Mission Foodbank said: “I set up the food bank during the pandemic as a way to help those in need in our local area.
“The pandemic brought pain and untold hardship to so many people physically, mentally, economically, and socially - and I wanted to do my bit to help support them as much as I could.
“Before the food bank, I am a teacher by trade and worked in education in UAE before moving to Nigeria to become an educational consultant. I then moved to the UK in 2020 and have been in Manchester ever since.
“When we started out we were serving around 20 locals each week - that figure has now doubled to about 40! We’ve definitely noticed an increase in demand since the start of the cost of living crisis as more and more families in the area felt the pinch.”
She continued: “We see people from all walks of life using the mission. From teachers and support staff to those such as community helpers and the elderly. We heat up and serve KFC chicken at the community cafe for people to have a hot meal whilst they collect their food parcels to take home. “Because of the increase in the cost of electricity bills, we have the food warmed up for them already.
“People love coming and seeing KFC on offer, especially since it’s the only foodbank in the wider area which offers people a valuable source of fresh protein.
We’ve definitely noticed an increase in demand since the start of the cost of living crisis Ibukun Ojedokun