Peter attends the opening of the Big Help Food Club
The Club, which offers a membership-based scheme to access quality food at affordable prices, was declared open by Mr Dowd at a ceremony attended by friends and supporters of the Big Help Project from across the community.
The Big Help Food Club provides quality food, including fresh food, to Food Club members for a weekly fee. All stock is sourced through a partnership with FareShare, which redistributes quality surplus stock from retailers across the country that would otherwise go to landfill. Membership is open to all, and the project aims to not only increase accessibility to food, but to also become a local resource for every across the community, regardless of income. Since registering the first membership in August, there are now over 100 members, and plan are in the pipeline to open further Food Clubs across the region.
Declaring the Food Club open, Peter Dowd MP said “It’s a real shame that families are in a position where they have to rely on food banks and food clubs to manage, but thankfully the charity and voluntary sector always come up trumps. The simple truth is that people shouldn’t be in a position where they struggle to feed themselves and their families. The crisis is only getting worse due to the Government’s austerity policies which penalise the most vulnerable whilst giving tax cuts to the richest and large companies. I want to thank the Big Help Project for their new initiative and for inviting me for the opening of the food club. It truly is grass roots engagement, it was great to see and hear from people within the local community where the food club is based and where I grew up. The only way to change this dreadful policy is to change the Government.”
The Big Help Food Club coordinator Trish Barkey said “it was an honour to have Peter Dowd declare the Big Help Food Club open today, and to share the occasion with our friends and supporters. With the cost of living spiralling and incomes stagnating, being able to afford food is a real concern for many people. The Food Club gives everyone a way to access good food without breaking the bank, and equally importantly is a way for the community to come together and support each other.”
The Big Help Food Club operates as part of the Big Help Project, which runs projects across the region supporting with a range of issues including looking for work and debt management, as well as the Knowsley Foodbank. More information available by contacting the Big Help Project on 0151 482 6089, visiting the website www.big-help.info or calling into Carr Meadow Hey Community and Shop and Food Club, Carr Meadow Hey, Bootle.