Using food and cooking to bring communities together

In response to COVID 19 from March 23rd, we set up a base at The Community Hub, Havelock St, Thornaby, TS17 6HN (North Star Housing).

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Whilst initially supporting Stockton Borough Council in the delivery of pack lunches to the children entitled to free school meals, we quickly realised that the families were experience high levels of food poverty so we immediately began to supplement the pack lunches with food parcels from items donated, surplus food / meals from supermarkets and businesses. Cash donations enable us to buy fresh meat, fruit and vegetables to help families have a nutritiously balanced diet.   

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We ran this project 5 days a week for 6 weeks, reducing down to 2 days a week from 27th April to date.  The service has extended beyond food. We now additionally offer help and advice to the community utilising lap tops and mobile phones to help people reach services they need to but can’t access due to lack of technology and no face to face contact available to them.  Over the last 14 months we have built relationships with the residents and feel we are in a position to help people address the causes of poverty, albeit financial, social or physical, and help them get the correct support. We are also accepting toys, book, clothes and school uniforms to be passed onto to people that need them.

During Covid, the absence of face to face support has played an integral role in the increase of people’s physical and mental health.  Over the months, our staff and volunteers have operated a triage system to ensure we were able to access the correct support for people.  We have worked with social workers, health visitors, midwives, enforcement officers, councillors, police along with the VCSE sector to address issues on behalf of residents and act as a non-clinical, non-judgemental mediator.