A Newcastle charity feeding hundreds of homeless people every night is now looking to set up a 'corner shop' to help people struggling with the rising cost of living.
The People's Kitchen on Bath Lane told Chronicle Live in April that it is seeing around 300 people turning up to the charity to receive a hot meal every night - a figure that has almost doubled in just 18 months as the cost of living crisis bites. Now, it is looking to provide even more support to some of the city's most vulnerable by launching a 'corner shop' to provide free food parcels to families struggling to meet soaring bills.
On Sunday, September 11 a team from the charity was due to take on the Great North Run in a bid to raise £5,000 to buy donations for the project. People’s Kitchen trustee Maggie Pavlou said the scheme would help those who are in desperate need of support.
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"Having our very own Great North Run team will hopefully raise enough money to help keep the 'corner shop' stocked up and also allow us to continue a scheme we started in the summer which was to give away small ‘food parcels’ to families in need," Maggie said.
"We know that many people we help are really struggling to afford the costs of even heating food up and so we are trying to also provide food that can be cold or heated quickly with just a kettle or a microwave. It’s a serious situation that is affecting more and more people and not just those that we would say are 'homeless.'”
People in need will be able to visit the People's Kitchen to receive a free bag of supplies including bread, milk, cereal, butter, fresh fruit, and vegetables that they can eat without having access to cooking facilities.
Maggie added: “The extra funding from our tremendous team of runners will help us keep both schemes going until Christmas and hopefully will help to reduce just a little of the financial stress that many people are facing right now.”
Donations can be made on The People’s Kitchen website www.peopleskitchen.co.uk/donate/
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