Thanks to funding from Rochdale Borough Council Public Health team, Action Together was able to offer investment to help the VCFSE groups provide emergency and immediate food offers, as well as investing in supporting the longer-term sustainability of our borough’s food providers.
The funded projects fell within one or more of the following priorities:
- Emergency FREE Food: Groups providing short-term, emergency support (for example food banks, community fridges, waste food projects or soup kitchens) which aim to relieve immediate pressure, but also offer additional support so that people don’t need to use the food bank again in the future.
- Food Pantries or other membership food clubs (i.e. social supermarkets, community shops, local food hubs): Established food pantries who are softening the blow of high living costs and creating conditions for communities to grow and thrive, by bringing people together around food.
- Social Eating Projects: food projects that bring communities together and combine food with addressing root causes of food poverty (e.g. providing benefits help or debt advice).
- Food Growing Projects: initiatives to help residents and community groups to learn how to grow food.
- Educational Food Projects: funding to enable community groups to find the time and space for learning and broader development around food I.e. Learn to Cook Programmes or Cooking on a Budget.
- Cultural Food Offers: projects that represent the traditions, beliefs, and practices of a geographic region, ethnic group, religious body, or cross-cultural community.
Projects funded via the Food Solutions Fund, Round 2:
| Member Organisation | Amount Awarded | Investment Projects |
| Angie's Angels Community Group CIC | £4,950 | The grant will help towards the continuation of the community café and food cupboard support for another six months, meaning that people will still have a safe space to access help and healthy food, and new people will be given the opportunity to access the service. The project will continue to be delivered from The Reaching out centre on Drake Street, as we already have a well-established base which people are familiar with. We will continue to work closely with The Sanctuary Trust, adult care, and social services, to support people with free food parcels. We will also continue to refer people via our Food support leaflet to the other food services around Rochdale such as soup kitchens, food banks and other pantries. |
| Aspire 2 Inspire Communities | £4,944 | We currently run an emergency food bank, seven days a week along with a food pantry once a week. The project we would like to run with this funding would be to but culturally appropriate food for our food pantry, along with a cooking project that will explore different cultures along with healthy ways of cooking unhealthy foods. We previously applied for a 6-week cooking project that will be coming to an end and we would like to extend our services and continue the project another 6 weeks. We would also like to continue our delivery service once a week so we can deliver food to elderly people and people who live further out and cant attend our food pantry |
| Back O'th Moss Community Centre | £4,860 | Celebrating our first birthday in April 2024, Heywood Pantry has hit a real millstone. The Pantry is based in the Back O’th Moss Community Centre on a housing estate mainly consisting of family homes. The supermarkets are approximately 15 minutes walking distance from the centre so this pantry provides easy access to the local community offering its members a life line in the most difficult times. The pantry has 30 active members each week. The pantry is open every Thursday from 9.30am until 12pm. Our food pantry provides, ten core items for £5, including fresh meat, dairy and vegetables, (fresh potatoes, carrots) chicken, white or wholemeal bread, six farm fresh eggs, cheese, 1 litre of semi or skimmed milk, three tinned foods e.g. soup, baked beans, sweetcorn or garden peas, plus any additional donations we may have received at the time, these are free added extras. Our food pantry offer is worth around £12. |
| CCC House of Praise | £4,963 | The grant will be used to get the food supplies for the people (vulnerable) at the face-to-face gathering aimed at sensitising the people targeted at the young and old who are majorly considered vulnerable, on how to eradicate food poverty which will take place at our food bank premises at 2, Sadler Street, Middleton M24 5UJ usually on every Friday and Sunday and we intend for our opening times to increase to five times in a week. |
| Darnhill Food Pantry | £4,758 | The pantry operates once a week on a Saturday afternoon and we charge £3.50 for ten items of food that the customer can choose for themselves. We quite often have additional food items that we can give for free such as donated fresh bread. The pantry operates at Darnhill Library Building, Argyle Parade in Heywood every Saturday from 12.15pm-2.30pm. The grant would be used mainly on buying stocks of food for the pantry plus an additional trolley for moving the stocks of food (all dry/ambient food), fuel costs for the car that does the shopping etc and Microsoft Office for a donated laptop that we can use for the pantry. |
| Freehold Pantry | We held a consultation with our member of what they felt was most beneficial to them in their shop and they said having eggs and halal meat was the real winner. The money we receive will help pay for the weekly spend of halal meat and eggs. This will be provided as part of their shop at no extra cost. The saving members make from this food gives them extra money to spend on the bills and other living costs. We will use a local retailer to buy these additional items so we can show our community support to small local businesses who are also struggling. | |
| Home-Start Rochdale Borough | £3,620 | The Home Project will help families who present to us in a crisis situation, where they don’t have enough food for their children, to provide breakfast, lunch or an evening meal. We will identify families who already access support from the charity, so we know they are genuinely struggling to provide a healthy meal for their children. This will also allow us to provide a continuation of support, to help address the difficulties in managing their household budget, cooking on a budget or accessing foods in the future to adopt a healthy lifestyle. |
| Humans MCR | £4,965 | The grant will allow us to continue both our Foodbank and Grocers offering in Rochdale. We pack our food parcels and Grocers packages from our central hub in Blackley, and the flexibility of our on-wheels services means that we can deliver all over Rochdale instead of being limited to the immediate, local area. |
| Kashmir Youth Project | £5,000 | KYP Community Pantry is open every Wednesday and Friday 10am to 4:30pm, providing culturally appropriate items to members of the community. Our hours have been extended due to a higher demand in the service. As we continue to remain one of the few culturally appropriate Food Pantry in the Borough, supporting the South Asian Community, we will need to keep this up. This funding will help us to keep our pantry stocked up to make sure our clients are receiving the appropriate items for their culture. We will need to purchase food suitable for South Asian households meaning shopping at local cash and carrys is mandatory. After thorough research, these food items tend to cost more than non-cultural food items available at a local supermarket. |
| Lamet Habayeb Association | £4,730 | As an Arab community in Rochdale, we usually like to share our traditional Arabic food with everyone in the community. Through this project we aim at bringing communities together to learn about Arabic culture and learn how to prepare Middle eastern recipes on a budget. 0ur cooking project aims to help individuals and families prepare simple and nutritious meals on a budget. Our organisation is committed to supporting disadvantaged, isolated, and BME communities by providing them with the necessary skills to cook healthy food at low cost. We would also offer cultural and Halal food parcels to the Arabic community that they cannot get through other services during summer holidays. |
| Maverick Lab CIC | £2,400 | We would like to give cash or supermarket vouchers for those in need. We would use the same system that we use for our petty cash. People would be identified by support workers colleagues from the work and skills team at the council and other VCSE organisations across the borough and make a referral, we would them contact the person and arrange for he/she/them to collect the vouchers/cash, they will sign the petty cash receipt for them and our records |
| Nigeria Community Association | £5,000 | With the grant, we will allocate funds towards the implementation of our project, primarily focusing on the delivery of culturally essential food assistance services to our community members. Here's how we plan to utilize the grant and execute the project: Food Bank Operations: The grant will be instrumental in sustaining and expanding our African Food Bank operations. We will use the funds to procure culturally appropriate food items and essential supplies to meet the diverse needs of our beneficiaries. Food Pantry: A portion of the grant will be allocated towards maintaining a food pantry, which will cater to individuals and families not covered by referrals. This pantry will offer a selection of grocery items at affordable prices, promoting food security and financial empowerment within the community. |
| Rochdale AFC Community Trust | £5,000 | The funding will help us with providing regular stock for the food pantry, with £100 per week allocated for this stocking, for 40 weeks. Each week our Community Engagement Coordinator will restock the food pantry an ensure everything is well maintained. The grant will allow us to continue to open the food pantry 5 days per week between our office hours of 10-4pm, where it is possible we can open later for individuals or families who can not access during these times due to working or other commitments. |
| Rochdale Connections Trust | £4,627 | We would like to provide emergency free food, as defined in the first priority, to relieve immediate pressure. To do this, we would like to provide 50 families who already use our services and therefore who we can identify who is most in need of this relief, with vouchers from Aldi. These vouchers would be the Orange Aldi gift cards which exclude the purchase of alcohol or lottery tickets. We would like to purchase enough for 50 families, at the amount of £50 per gift card. We have chosen vouchers rather than food parcels to enable families to do their weekly shop and get what they need, rather than us trying to guess what people may need based on various dietary requirements. |
| Rochdale Foodbank | £4,493 | The grant will be used exclusively to buy food for our Emergency Food Parcels. The Distribution Centres at Smallbridge and Littleborough have now been operating successfully since the start of 2024. The two centres work slightly differently , in that Smallbridge collect food donations from local supermarkets on behalf of Rochdale Foodbank and make up Food Parcels on site, while Littleborough Library receive pre-packed Food Parcels which have been packed at our Foodbank Centre in central Rochdale and delivered once a week using our Foodbank van. |
| Speaking of Food CIC | £3,440 | Summer Eating is a pop up pantry and an opportunity for discussing family meal ideas. This project will provide families in the Pennine area with food to make nutritious meals and snacks at home over the school holidays. Demonstrations of the dishes and tasters will be available. The groceries required to make the dishes will be provided to take home and make. The dishes will be appealing to children and most children will be able to help out with food preparation to replicate the dishes at home. This will reduce the financial burden of providing nutritious foods to families over the summer holidays. Family members will add new dishes to their household menu plan, stock up their stores, and may improve knowledge and skills in food preparation and cooking. A local budget supermarket will be used to source the groceries with the aim of taking advantage of special offers where possible, using a range of fresh, ambient , chilled and frozen goods to make nourishing family friendly meals. |
| The Foodie-Kitchen | £4,876 | We are seeking funding to launch a series of cooking classes tailored specifically for vulnerable young people including asylum seeker and refugee students in our community. We have supported these young people on an ad-hoc basis after learning that many food banks don’t offer the cultural food they want/need. This programme aims to provide valuable life skills, including budgeting, promote inter-generational cultural exchange, and enhance community integration. |
| The Lighthouse Project* | £5,000 | Our Project has two parts: Part 1 is for the Lighthouse Pantry, a membership food club, and Part 2 is for Middleton Central Foodbank that provides emergency food parcels and crisis support. Both projects work together, collaborating in the help and support of people experiencing food poverty or food crisis. Whether this is due to an immediate need / issue, or due to an ongoing lack of family finances impacting their ability to cover weekly household food costs. |
Projects funded via the Food Solutions Fund, Round 1:
| Member Organisation | Amount Awarded | Investment Projects |
| Angie's Angels Community Group CIC | £5,567 | We would use the grant to open the café on a Wednesday as well as helping to support the already open days. Food supplies and equipment are expensive, and these are our largest overheads, a large proportion of the funding will be used to cover this cost. The volunteers work extremely hard, many of them are from a background of addiction or mental health, they are integral to the whole running of the café project. |
| Army of Kindness | £4,000 | We will provide over 500 hot meals once a week on a Thursday, 5pm- 6pm from October to end of March 2024. The total amount of sessions will be 27. The project will take place at St Andrews Church, OL16 2HZ, which is walking distance from town centre, and has a walking distance bus station. |
| Aspire 2 Inspire Communities | £5,260 | We would like to increase the hours of our food pantry during the winter period, and open it for an additional day or maybe a few more hours on Saturday, depending on what works for the service users. The food prices have gone up and the running costs are increasing. We would also like to introduce a pilot project on cooking food, and how to make the most out of your money. We would also like to end food waste, so use food products we already have to create delicious new meals. We would also like to promote healthy, nutritional home cooked meals from different cuisines |
| Back of the Moss Community Centre | £4,092 | We provide each member with a pre-packed food bag with a retail value of approximately £12 weekly. We currently have 30 members each week. We also provide one-off free emergency parcels to anyone who has no money, and needs food and work with the emergency food delivery initiative Helping Hands. |
| Deeplish Community Centre Association | £2,000 | We aim to promote community social eating project which will include social welfare and financial advice. We will address well-being and improve local people’s participation in well-being activities through informal education, engagement and financial, debt advice. We will bring people together and connect them to create a circle of friends. |
| Freehold Pantry | £4,092 | We held a consultation with our members to discover what they felt was most beneficial to them in their shop, and they said having eggs and halal meat was the real winner. The money we receive will help pay for the weekly spend of halal meat and eggs. This will be provided as part of their shop at no extra cost. The saving members make from this food gives them extra money to spend on the bills and other living costs. We will use a local retailer to buy these additional items so we can show our community support to small local businesses who are also struggling. |
| Hebron Church | £5,104 | We want to provide a brand-new, weekday social eating place at Hebron Church, supporting 30 families for people living in the Falinge estate and surrounding area, which is the 31st most deprived community in England, and at risk of anti-social behaviour, isolation, food, and fuel poverty. The sessions will run for approximately three hours. |
| HMR Circle Volunteer Drivers Service | £3,700 | We will use the grant to ensure we can continue to deliver our current offer, we will use the money to grow and develop that offer, into new geographical areas of the borough and increase the frequency. Our initial target area is Middleton for further expansion of the Lunch Club-club offer. Within all the Lunch Club-Clubs will be access to debt and benefit advice as well as the dissemination of information of the offers and support available to people. The Lunch Club-Clubs, both regular and pop-up, will incorporate food demonstrations to showcase low-cost recipes and techniques. Following on from these, we will offer demonstrations around cooking on a budget, for those already taking part and encouraging and recruiting new participants. |
| Humans MCR | £2,500 | We will use the grant to develop our Foodbank and Grocers services in Rochdale. Our Foodbank on-wheels provides food for at least three days – and we always include fresh produce in these parcels to ensure our clients are given the resources to produce nutritionally complete meals. 95% of our parcels are delivered within 24 hours of referral - 100% are delivered within 48. A step up from this is our Community Grocers on-wheels, which uses food destined for landfill to provide clients at risk of falling into poverty (or those who are already there and need help getting out) with a week’s worth of fresh groceries of their choice, delivered to their door. |
| Kashmir Youth Project | £3,785 | KYP Community Pantry is open every Wednesday and Friday 10am -1pm, providing items such as, seasonings, rice, oil, flour, lentils, tinned spinach, tinned saag, chickpeas, sauces, naan breads, chapatti and other items, at a cost of £4 for 10 items. The funding will help us continue provision of this service in view of increased demand and continuing pressures on family finances brought about by the cost of living crisis.
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| Kirkholt Community Church | £2,500 | Our aim is to help people who are in crisis by giving them a food parcel to help feed themselves and their families. We don’t just help with Food parcels, we also offer a free breakfast every Tuesday morning to anyone who comes in from the community. We also have a Men's Support Group in the main hall, running at the same time as the free breakfast, and we serve the men theirs in the hall also. The breakfast consists of sausage and egg sandwiches, toast, crumpets, cereals, tea, coffee or juice. |
| Kirkholt Pantry | £4,860 | The grant will help bridge the cost of living gap faced by our members by ensuring that each member will have the essential food items of bread, milk and eggs, as part of their weekly shop. This will be provided at no extra cost. |
| Lamet Habayeb Association | £2,200 | As an Arab community in Rochdale, we usually like to share our traditional Arabic food with everyone in the community. Through this project we aim at bringing communities together to learn about Arabic culture and learn how to prepare Middle eastern recipes on a budget. Our cooking project aims to help individuals and families prepare simple and nutritious meals on a budget. Our organisation is committed to supporting disadvantaged, isolated, and BME communities by providing them with the necessary skills to cook healthy food at low cost. |
| Nigeria Community Association | £3,000 | This funding will support The African Food Bank Project which is a transformative initiative aimed at addressing critical food-related challenges within local communities. This project aligns seamlessly with the fund's priorities and objectives |
| Oakenhoof Folk Arts | £700 | The project fits into the Emergency Food priority. Our proposal is to use our musical and dance skills to raise to generate some more stocks for the Food Solutions Network. We have come up with two ideas, based on activities we’ve done in the past that have been succesful. We are asking for a small amount of funding to help us to do these activities which should generate way more than the funds requested in food donations |
| Rochdale AFC Community Trust | £5,000 | The Dale Food Pantry provides a low cost, top-up shop for individuals who may be struggling to afford food, allowing people to choose a selection of ten items for a voluntary donation of £10. Following the closure of the Community Warehouse, we would like to utilise the majority of this grant to provide a supplementary top-up shop for the Dale Food Pantry each week. We would also like to use a portion of the grant to run a social eating project, providing weekly access to hot food for refugees and people seeking sanctuary. |
| Rochdale Connections Trust | £1,500 | We would like to use the funds to run a 'Family Foodie Project' which would be in addition to our current menu of offers. The idea is to create a safe space where we will invite families and participants to get together once a week for a home-cooked meal that they will help prepare. |
| Rochdale Foodbank | £7,000 | We will use the grant to buy food. Our emergency food parcel typically contains around 24-30 items of food. There is at least sufficient food for three days, or ten meals, and this is all ambient – tins and packets. In addition, we supply fresh bread, eggs and a small amount of fruit. |
| Rochdale Womens Welfare Association | £1,000 | Our project will provide emergency and immediate food, especially to women and girls escaping domestic abuse. The funding will also be used to support our Luncheon Club which currently runs successfully. |
| Smallbridge Pantry | £4,242 | The money we receive will help bridge the cost-of-living gap by ensuring each member has the basic bread, milk, eggs, and pasta offer weekly. These food items can be used to make breakfast and lunch. This will be provided as part of our members shop at no extra cost. The saving members make from this food gives them extra money to spend on the bills and other living costs. |
| Soup Kitchen Rochdale | £1,113 | We are applying for this fund to enable us to offer a stable bagging service for a twelve-week period. This will have huge benefits within the community as in the past we have known that by offering the service it can reduce local crime (shoplifting of food items), has helped with recovery (service users with historical malnourishment don’t heal from abscesses etc. as not as much nutrition/hydration - our service ensure they have meals |
| SVP Heywood Foodbank | £7,000 | The aim of this project is to extend and enhance the provision of food at Heywood Food Bank in addition to developing a support network with the aim of moving clients out of food poverty. This projects aims to provide a more sustainable model of food distribution going forward by exploring free food/waste food options and increasing the number of food suppliers to the foodbank by making use of Fairshare and FairshareGo for example. This will require the purchase of additional fridges and freezers to store the food safely and will allow the food bank to enhance the food they provide by offering a range of fresh fruit and vegetables along with cooked and baked goods which are not currently offered. |
| The Lighthouse Project | £10,000 | Our proposal is to use the funding to provide support to families for 20 weeks during the winter period, November 2023-March 2024. We would use the funding to:
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| The Veterans Food Co CIC | £5,000 | This project is to develop a core programme of trained volunteers who can cook food from the food bank into meals ready for families to reheat, we want to create LCT. Lighthouse Cooking Team It will be different to other projects, we want to link in with people who grow food i.e., local allotments supermarkets and other food sources. People who attend the Lighthouse Project can come and learn cooking skills from the LCT, thereby reducing their own food budget and improving their well-being. |
| Wonderfully Made Woman | £1,000 | The Cost of Living Cultural Food Support Project aims to support 50 African women in Middleton through weekly food support. This will help reduce financial hardship amongst women and their families and improve well being. We want to provide culturally appropriate food support for African women. |