After a huge amount of effort, Hope’s exciting and innovative Foodclub launches on 23rd February.
This is an exciting moment for Hope. This is the first service we have launched that reaches out to a wider set of people in poverty beyond our historic base of the single homeless and disadvantaged. They have had our undivided attention for 44 years, but given the scale of support we have, and the volume of food that we can now tap into, we wanted to stretch out towards other people in need – especially those on low incomes with families.
The Foodclub is a social supermarket, where people become members, and then can get £45+ a month of food for £15, plus free giveaways – including sanitary protection to tackle period poverty. It’s a kind of co-operative where membership allows access to food at about 1/3 the normal price.
The food (and toiletries) are not free: that’s what makes it different from a foodbank. We aim to reach a slightly different audience, and help them week-in-week out. If you are on benefits, you get in the club. We have teamed up with the local credit union, Harvest Money, so members get access to their services, and are working in partnership with Blackthorn Good Neighbours as our first local partner. If successful, we will spread all over Northampton. Later in 2018 we will add in fresh salad and veg we have grown in our new allotment growing project, offering training in horticulture to the unemployed.
The project tackles food poverty: reports since Christmas show how extensive it is – http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/food-poverty-parents-skip-meals-household-budget-debt-money-finances-feed-children-a8183426.html . They can’t all go to foodbanks; we have to find new ways of feeding people who are permanently poor, not just in crisis, as people are when foodbanks help them.
Food of course, is central to Hope, and has been in our DNA since 1974. This new project builds on our history and is true to our purpose.
Over time the small amount of money we raise will financially support the scheme. We have no statutory funding of course; some small grants. To help kick it off, we have launched a Crowdfunding campaign at https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/hope-foodclub
We hope you can support this campaign, or simply share it with everyone you know.
Let’s Hope we can really make a difference.
