With the cost-of-living and the food prices rising to record highs, more and more families are struggling to keep themselves fed.
Greater Manchester Youth Federation (GMYF) supports young people across the city, and the charity wants to see an end to hunger for families
It has a few bases around Greater Manchester, one of which is Partington Youth Club in Trafford where they run the food project every Tuesday.
The Bread and Butter Thing (TBBT) is the name of the charity which runs the scheme, supporting thousands of families each week in 90 locations by offering affordable food bundles.
TBBT receives food donations from supermarkets, farmers and suppliers who have surplus stock, or items close to their sell-by date, which is then packaged and sent out to participating hubs across the UK.
Before getting its permanent home in Partington, TBBT travelled around Trafford. But Adele New from GMYF identified that Partington was the most deprived area and needed to provide a permanent service.
Adele said: “It needed a real home of its own that people could rely upon every week.”
When the service was mobile, Partington only had around 20 service users. But this has more than doubled since the hub was made permanent, rising to 57 families each week.
Adele said: “We really just want to remove as many barriers because the more families we can help, it helps the young people coming into our building.
“Everything that we are doing here is about removing barriers, and breaking down any stigma and empowering people to help themselves and each other.”
The service is extremely accessible and easy to use. All you have to do to sign up is send a text to GMYF with a few details of your requirements.
There are no financial eligibility checks and GMYF simply lets you know when your food is ready to pick up.You can pay by cash, card, or NHS Healthy Start Cards.
As well as the food service, they often invite professionals to offer free advice to service users, such as financial advisors from Money Matters.
They recently had a visit from Your Home Better, a service commissioned by Greater Manchester Combined Authority giving home insulation advice – you can find key dates for these visits on GMYF’s social media.
Adele is passionate about making sure people are looked after.
She said: “It’s really important to us that people come into the building and feel like they are being supported and empowered.
“If there is anything that people need, just speak to myself. I am a former Trafford councillor so I have a lot of connections in the community.
“We really want to have this as a place to support our families and young people.”
For any more information, you can contact Adele at [email protected].
The cost of the bundles: individual bags for £5, three bags for £8.50, or a large family bundle for £17.
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This week's food from The Bread and Butter Thing 👇 The contents of 3 bags.
— Greater Manchester Youth Federation (@GMYouthFed) March 12, 2024
All of this for £8.50 to supplement your weekly shop. The food comes from leading supermarkets, farmers and supplier's and would go to waste. pic.twitter.com/TJJelv3587
Featured image credit: Adele New, GMYF
