Bag packer

Over a period of time it became obvious to us that there was a need in our town that nobody was addressing. After much soul searching and deliberately we made a decision that in December 2013 we would take a pan of soup, bread and juice and serve the food out of the back of our cars outside Rochdale Town Hall. This quickly grew to 2, 3and 4 nights a week with friends and supporters offering to make soup for us. Before long we had a rota of volunteer soup makers and servers wanting to join us. After approximately 2/3 years we began serving a two course home made food from an emergency project in Rochdale. So more volunteers and more rota’s followed!!! Around this time we also began to receive donations from local supermarkets who wanted to share their food that would otherwise have been thrown away. Five years down the line we now have our own building serving food four evenings a week and a home cooked meal on a Saturday. We have many supermarkets and small businesses regularly donating their food which enables us to feed in the region of 40 people every evening. As other organisations and agencies became aware of our building and work we were undertaking we were approached by the HART team which is a Primary Care Health Service provided by Rochdale Health Alliance for the homeless and transient within our borough. They provide GP services, treatment for minor ailments, preventative medicine, wound care and support with GP registration within the borough. They are available on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 6:15 - 19:45. We have many brilliant outside groups and supporters who have helped us with building projects which include a new serving kitchen and dining room, painting and more improvements to our building. We also have many individuals and groups who fundraise and donate to us so that we can continue this vital help and support to the vulnerable and socially isolated in our borough.