ALDI BURNLEY - TODMORDEN RD

Burnley Community Kitchen will use food as the catalyst for delivering change in people's lives. Burnley as a town is in the top 20% of deprived districts in the UK, with 2 wards reaching the top 10% of deprived areas nationally. Therefore, general health is statistically worse than other districts of the UK, with 23.4% of children being classified as obese by year 6 age and ‘holiday hunger’ being an issue for those children who are provided with free school meals in term time. Many people in Burnley rely on food bank donations and many experience long periods of hunger.

Great Marsden is a primary school in Nelson, Lancashire. Our school is in an area of high deprivation and we have a higher than average number of children on free school meals. Through the pandemic we supported families with basic food parcels. This has had to continue and we now have our own foodbank. We seek to educate our children to be responsible citizens of the future and support their families, and the wider community, to thrive and flourish. Great Marsden is a one form entry primary school in Nelson, in the east of Lancashire. Our school serves an area of high deprivation and we have higher than the national average of children on free school meals. During the pandemic, we were faced with families in extreme difficulty. Through a personal donation and our MAT we supported them in providing food parcels. Once the pandemic ended, sadly the levels of food poverty did not decrease, in fact we have seen a growth in those seeking help. We started signposting to the local food back but some of our families found this very difficult. We knew them, had a trusting relationship with them, coming to us was like coming to family. There is no charge for the service we provide. Hence we started our own foodbank, initially from the donations of staff and our families. For the past 12-18 months our Friends of St John's (school fundraising - which is ironic really!) have been buying fresh produce for the food bank each week to go alongside tins and packets. We call it 'Take What You Need and Give When You Can' and our families do genuinely try to do this. However, the ability to give back is becoming less and less. 12 months ago I applied for a grant to provide us with a sturdy outdoor shed and shelving, as our school entrance area was beginning to look like a shop. We had also noticed that some mums, and particularly dads, would only come in to collect something if no one was around. We knew we had to make it a safe, anonymous space. I can send you photos of the food 'shed'. To that end I write to you in the hope that you might be able to support us in some way. If you would like any other information, or a visit to our amazing school, please do not hesitate to contact me. We partner exclusively with Neighbourly.

We provide a Community Pantry where anyone struggling to provide for themselves or their family can have access to a variety of food and other everyday items. For a payment of £4 you get ten points worth of goods (worth at least £10.) This allows our clients to have control over the food they want and how they budget. It removes the stigma of having to ask for charity, as at a food bank. Our service is manned by trained volunteers from Christian Churches in the area and our food donations come mainly from Church members and local schools. We also receive generous donations from ALDI and LIDL. All the money received goes back into the Community Pantry. We provide tea and coffee and a place for people to be in a warm and friendly environment. Our hope is that in future we can provide some signposting for people needing that extra help.