Sainsbury's Hazel Grove

Together Trust is a charity providing special education, residential services, fostering, family support and community services. We believe everybody deserves an equal chance in life. There are no exceptions. This includes those with behavioural problems, learning difficulties, physical disabilities and autism spectrum conditions. Everyone has the ability and the right to experience joy, happiness and hope. One of our services is Inscape House School. This is a non-maintained day special school in Cheadle, Cheshire. We support children and young people with autism spectrum conditions and related social communication difficulties from Year 1 to Year 14. We run a breakfast club for the children and young people as they often arrive at school without having breakfast. This makes it harder for them to focus and learn. Many children who have autism experience great anxiety as mealtime approaches. The underlying reasons can include sensory aversions and fear of unfamiliar foods. Inadvertently, families can make anxiety worse by trying to force a child to eat, setting up a pattern of mealtime stress. Fear and anxiety can shut down hunger in a powerful way by putting the child’s body in a state of 'fight or flight'. Our Nurture breakfast is a safe homely space that children can enter, to access food and talk with their friends. This helps to improve their social skills and also learn about their emotions.

Provision of relief of items to vulnerable and disadvantaged families. We now want to launch a community hub but need more funding, help with fridge and a space to fully launch the hub. When this is accomplished we will be able to increase our beneficiary base as well as increase our services. People will not have to wait to get appointments before accessing food. They can get come in everyday we are open to eat.

In 2013 it was noticed that there was a huge increase in the number of individuals and families accessing food banks in Stockport. We wanted to find a way to help before they reached the crisis point of needing emergency food parcels. This where we came up with the idea for Your Local Pantry. Penny Lane Pantry was launched in August 2013. with 150 memberships available. Members pay a small, weekly subscription fee of £2.50 and in return members can select at least 10 items from the pantry's shelves - often worth in excess of £15.00 at retail. The pantry stocks a wide range of goods including fresh fruit and vegetables, chilled and frozen, toiletries and all the usual store cupboard favourites. However, the pantry is more than just about food,. We offer local residents the opportunity to volunteer in the shop helping them to build confidence, gain new skills and attend training. 10 people have moved on to full time, paid employment thanks to the support the pantry offers. The pantry holds cookery courses and demonstrations encouraging people to try new things and cook their own recipes from scratch, using all the ingredients from the pantry. The pantry has proved so successful we know how 4 shops across Stockport, supporting over 600 members and staffed by 35 volunteers.