Restaurant Associates

Providing free food to the community

Nourish This Hunger project has shown the need to help set up projects such as a Community Food Club here in Salford.. There is a desperate need out there. The Community Food Club called Family Food Fayre commenced in January 2021 on Mondays and Thursdays. We have also set up a food club each Wednesday for those in flats in Pendleton in response to the needs in the area. The food club links into the our support hub to provide support for any in need. as well as any struggling with being homeless. This also provides housing and employment advice as well as funding for energy crisis with those on pre-payment meters. We have also set up other Food Clubs in Radcliffe (2) and another in West Salford. Each one helping out with different help including employment/Digital Inclusion/housing/ mental health/surgery advice/debt advice and energy vouchers. The Narrowgate Night Shelter sadly closed in March 2020 due to COVID-19. So another way in which we support homeless people is through Operation Joy, our street outreach program and support hub. Volunteers are now helping the vulnerable on the streets and in the hub with Paul Winter and Daryl. We also have a resettlement worker Cath as well as Nick, the chaplain who goes into help people in three prisons in the area.

The Port Grocery is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company diverting perfectly good food away from landfill for the benefit of our local community. We run a membership based community shop, The Port Grocery which provides high quality affordable food. Members pay a £10.00 a week membership fee which enables them to come into our shop and choose between £20.00 and £30.00 worth of food every week. Our shop operates a ‘Tick and Collect’ system, where members tick items they want from a list and from a board and their shopping is packed for them by our staff and volunteers. A home delivery service, We have a very wide product range including meat, fish, fresh fruit and vegetables, tinned food, cereals, bread, dried food, cakes, cheese, yogurts, ready meals and non food such as washing detergents, shampoo shower gel, washing up liquid, nappies, baby milk, as and when available, school uniforms, clothes, house hold goods, and much more. In conjunction with Flynn's Port in the Storm, Crisis Café and House Hold Support fund we hold a crisis fund that we use for anyone in genuine hardship to help by providing food clothes and household items. food Every week we also run a completely free community lunch, Wednesday Welcome. Our community lunch is open to everyone and provides over 200 hot meals every week. It’s a great place to meet new friends and connect as well as eat some completely free, tasty food all year round. Our volunteers cook up a storm in the kitchen every week using food that otherwise would have gone to waste and turning it into delicious food for everyone. We provide sandwiches, fresh soup, hot meals such as fish pie, pasta bake, stew, puddings, cakes and hot and cold drinks. Wednesday Welcome has also become a focal point in our community which enables individuals to get unmet needs addressed. Our open-door policy ensures we are inclusive and non-discriminatory and removes any stigma from accessing our activities and services. We also divert much needed food and none-food items to local charitable organisation that support vulnerable people in local communities. In addition we provide food to other food groups who do not have the capacity to collect and store supplies.