ALDI MANCHESTER - FALLOWFIELD

Manchester Young Community Champions provides a youth engagement project based at West Gorton Youth Centre 2 evenings a week, working with children and young people with additional needs affecting their mental health and emotional well-being. We provide a safe environment for young people to come and engage with a range of activities and events, enabling them to stay off the streets which helps to reduce anti-social behaviour. The activities we provide are multi-sports, cooking/baking arts and crafts, peer mentor led group sessions, 1-1 sessions, outings and residential trips, and we are reliant on securing funding in order to deliver this service. The areas in Manchester in which we focus are amongst the top 20% of disadvantaged communities in the Country as identified by the Indices of Multiple Deprivation, and a high proportion of our families are on benefits or are on a low income. In Ardwick alone over 50% of young people are in poverty or experience deprivation. (HMRC data report) As a result, members of these communities seek positive outlets for community activity and rely heavily on subsidised public and/or voluntary sector services to maintain their health, emotional well-being and social needs. Given this, we provide our children and young people with either a hot meal or snack during every session, which supports the family budget, and our families rely on this provision. In order for us to continue to provide food to our children and young people, we would like to apply for redistributed food donations from M&S to be received on a regular basis. Since the Coronavirus pandemic, we have been working creatively to continue to engage with and provide for our children and young people, and have done this by delivering food parcels to families on an outreach basis, which has enabled us to ensure that we can still provide meals for our children and young people.

Rekindle is a bold, youth-led charity which is flipping the script on education. First opening its doors in Hulme (Manchester), Rekindle has been revolutionising the way we support and educate young people since 2022. Co-designed during the pandemic by eight young people aged between 17 and 25 who recognised that the education system is unfairly stacked against young people from working-class and global majority backgrounds, Rekindle exists to spark a love of learning in disadvantaged young people and support them to become creative critical thinkers who are inspired and empowered to create change within their communities. Starting as a small grassroots movement, we have now become a national charity with a presence in London and Dundee, and hopes to continue expanding across the UK. Our flagship supplementary school for 11-14 year olds and HQ based in Hulme has become a community hub over the years, supporting marginalised groups and offering local residents a soulful space within which they can find solidarity and a sense of belonging. We recently launched the Rekindle Pantry in March 2025, an informal foodbank which supports members of the community impacted by the cost of living crisis and rising rates of food insecurity. We aim to expand our provision and reach through partnerships with supermarkets and businesses, to ensure that the Pantry remains sustainable and continues to have a positive impact on the community. Volunteers are always welcome! From helping out during evening sessions with the young people we work with, lending a hand with the Rekindle Pantry, giving up a bit of your free time to do some gardening, DIY, or repairs, supporting us at events and so much more, there is always something to do that would make a massive difference. If you are interested in partnering or volunteering with Rekindle, please get in touch with our Community and Corporate Partnerships Lead, Cara at cara@rekindle school.org

There are so many women and children in Manchester unable to make ends meet for reasons including benefit cuts, sudden job loose, sudden carer duties and illness. So many women have to chose between heating and children's nappies and this is a choice no woman should ever have to make. We aim to support women by providing food, toiletries and baby items to keep them going in times of hardship. We welcome the support from organisations and members of our community. Please get in touch if you can offer donations or financial contributions.