M&S Chesterfield

We are a membership only community project fighting food poverty in chesterfield. Before the lockdowns, we were a community café helping disadvantaged and vulnerable people get a warm, healthy meal. During the lockdown, we delivered in excess of 10,000 food parcels to frontline workers, vulnerable and shielding people and everybody else who needed our help.

Action was founded in 1977 by a group of staff from South Yorkshire Probation Service who recognised that a significant proportion of offenders have vulnerabilities and housing related needs that contribute to their offending behaviour. Our original services involved the provision of housing and support for ex-offenders in order to provide a platform for a different, more stable way of life and therefore reduce recidivism. Over the last 15 years we have developed our services and our remit to work with a variety of complex and specialist groups of vulnerable people: such as those with substance misuse, mental illness, victims of abuse and young people. In addition to helping people secure and maintain accommodation we also facilitate personal development; access to other services and opportunities; support and opportunity to find meaningful occupation and overall to help people change their lives for the better: reducing the cycle of hopelessness, risky behaviour and homelessness. Action currently operates across Mansfield, Derby, Derbyshire, Sheffield and Rotherham where we have an excellent reputation for local service delivery and a wide network of contacts across the statutory and voluntary sector. We are a progressive organisation; always seeking new ways to help vulnerable people develop their skills and opportunities to build a better future for themselves and play a more positive role in their communities. Action’s ethos is to work holistically with each individual customer. We consider their strengths and aspirations, involve them in decisions and ensure that they lead in the development of their support plans. We always aim to work in partnership with other agencies, seeking to minimise the disruption and intrusiveness of repeated interventions and information gathering, whilst ensuring customer safety. Designed to recognise the emotional journeys and enormous achievements that customers make in overcoming significant disadvantage, our motto is ‘Enabling our customers to achieve extraordinary things’. We have a number of supported accommodation sites and dispersed accommodation in addition to floating support services.

Staveley Foodbank is run and operated by Edge Ministries, a Christian mission organisation that both speaks of and demonstrates the love of God as seen in Jesus Christ. Staveley Foodbank is here to help people who are in need and are struggling to feed themselves and their family. We use food parcels as a way of opening up a lifeline of hope and help into our community and offer various other projects for people to get involved with- all run in the Edge Centre with the aim of providing a wholistic approach to facing life’s struggles. Wednesday Mornings are more than just a drop in opportunity for people to access food, we also provide a welcoming café environment where people are encouraged to take time to sit in the warm, grab a brew and chat to our friendly volunteers. We rely on donations from the public, as well as local businesses and are working very hard to collect from anywhere and everywhere. You can donate food directly to Staveley Edge Centre weekdays between 9am-4pm, or financially online via povertybreaker.uk