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How can we tackle food poverty in Southampton?

13/6/2017

2 Comments

 
There’s the shopping trolley at church each week – we can fill that up with dried foods for the Basics Bank – and a big thank you to everyone who does that. That gives some individuals and families a vital lifeline.
 
You could join the Beacon, and help serve at their drop-in meals every 6-8 weeks in the Parish Hall. They’re building up a regular community of people who are struggling financially. (They do much more than that, but that’s one aspect of their work.)
Picture
And we already support SCRATCH – a wonderful Southampton charity who run the Dorcas Project (providing furniture and white goods to people in need) and Fareshare (distributing surplus food from supermarkets to schools and projects around the city who can target them towards those most in need).
 
I took a visit to see Fareshare in action. First stop – SCRATCH HQ down by the river.  Kitted out in my hi-viz jacket and steelies (steel toe-capped shoes), I was ready to rumble. The van (brand new – they’re being sponsored by Ocado for three years) was already loaded with two pallets of food, packed up by the busy warehouse team.
 
Whilst Jill drove us to the Flowers estate, we chatted.
Q: What sort of projects does she deliver to?
A: Several schools in the Shirley area, to help them with breakfast and after school clubs and the like.
Q: What got her involved in the work?
A: She’d found herself near retirement age, unable to get a job. She heard of Scratch and thought she’d try volunteering. She started off as half a day a week. She now does 3 half days, including driving the van.
Q: What do her friends make of her?
A: They’re envious that she’s able to do it whilst they’re still working!
Picture
Bob Light (wearing a jacket saying "not of this world") at the Flower Garden
​We arrived at the Flower Garden – current base of Bob Light, a convicted drug dealer who was converted to Christ years ago and now runs Flowers of Justice church and is unofficial pastor to the estate. Whilst unloading 30 big crates of food, he tells me that it’ll all be gone by this evening. Two ladies will help him bag it all up, then they’ll deliver it to 70-100 needy families on the estate. It’s good fresh food (including venison and other delicacies!), but with a short shelf-life.
 
Those families are able to eat much more healthily as well as learning cooking skills. There’s an Italian chef living rough at the moment – if Bob and his team get better premises, they might house him and get him working for them to help with that. Through the love that Bob and the team at Flowers of Justice have shown over the years, many have become Christians. 
Picture
The warehouse team at Fareshare, part of SCRATCH
​Back to the base to unload the empty crates. Time for a 2-minute chat with Mike Smith, member of our congregation and general manager of SCRATCH, in-between his meetings.
​
Q: How’s the project going?
A: It’s tight for money – the demand is outstripping supply of good food. They’re putting in yet more funding bids. They’re at a size where they’re too big to get grants for small charities, but too small to get the big grants.
Q: How’s it going with the volunteers?
A: 170 volunteers coming in regularly. A recently appointed volunteer development person has helped volunteers to work on their CVs and apply for suitable jobs. So far about 8 volunteers have now got paid employment. So even those doing the helping are being helped (Didn’t Jesus say, “It’s more blessed to give than to receive”?).
 
That was certainly backed up by a quick chat with a volunteer I recognised – she’d been a few times to St James’ by the Park and goes regularly to the Beacon drop-in meals with her partner and the child they look after. They’d experienced homelessness. Now he helps at the Dorcas project and is growing in confidence at what he can do. She helps with Fareshare and loves cooking for the volunteers. After a really rough stage in their lives, this is helping them find their feet. 
Picture
The new delivery van, provided by Ocado - not a scratch on it yet!
​And then a chance to sit down with Claire, who helps manage the Fareshare volunteers – the one who got me kitted up in hi-viz and steelies. Before the very first Fareshare delivery from Tescos, she wondered how they would ever deliver it all. Now over 170 projects receive deliveries regularly (including our own Superstars).

Before she started this job, she knew about food poverty, but didn’t really understand it. Then she went to Bob Light’s place. She met a young family who’d walked from Shirley because they heard they could get breakfast there. “That can’t be right” she thought. And now she’s completely committed to the Fareshare cause.

Q: What more could we do as a local church to support SCRATCH?
A: Two things: 1. Tell people they can come and volunteer (including on Saturdays) – whether it’s helping with paperwork or sorting food or driving vans. Come down and have a look. Go on a van and talk with the people who receive this food. Hear the stories about the difference it makes – about how children are attending school more because of the food they get; about how families are able to cope whilst they wait 8 weeks for their benefits to come through.
2. Get involved with a holiday hunger project like MakeLunch [which is something we have been considering as a church]. One school ran a project which they thought would attract 15 children over the long summer holiday. 75 came regularly. Now the parents are wanting to get involved and help this year.
 
I left thankful that we’re able to support SCRATCH’s great ministry in our city; thankful for the great volunteers and staff there; thankful that food waste and food poverty are being addressed in our nation more than before; thankful for Christians like Bob Light who brings Kingdom culture to many on the Flowers estate; thankful for Mike Smith and Ian Dowdell and others who bring a Kingdom culture to SCRATCH. And yes, with some questions about whether some of the work creates a dependency culture. But as Claire said, “We all depend on food, don’t we? We’re helping people survive.”
 
Why don’t you pay a visit? You’ll hear some harrowing stories and wonderful stories - and be hugely encouraged at what God is doing through SCRATCH. 
2 Comments
Renee Dijeng
16/5/2019 01:29:17

Hi I wanted to know where the Church service is held so me and family may attend

Reply
TONY FARLEY link
19/3/2021 13:59:28

FOR THE ATTENTION OF MR BOB LIGHT
MY DEAR BOB IM APPROACHING MY 61ST BIRTHDAY ON THE 17TH APPRIL IVE BEEN MARRIED TO LIZ FOR 24 YEARS NOW I HAVE TWO AMAZING KIDS AND TWO GRANDCHILDREN WHO I ADORE. AS YOU MAY RECALL AFTER LIVING AND WORKING IN LONDON FOR 14 YEARS MY RELATIONSHIP OF TEN YEARS CRASHED I WAS ADDICTED TO CANNABIS, AMPHETAMINES, EXTASY, LSD AND ENDED UP LIVING ON THE STREET FOR 5 YEARS. A MAN CALLED STEVE GODWIN FOUND ME AND TOOK ME TO ST PATS WHERE I MET YOU AND I WAS GIVEN A RAY OF HOPE A LIGHT CAME ON. A LADY WHO WORKED AS A CLEANER CALLED BABS THREE TIMES ASKED ME TO TAKE SOME PAPERWORK OVER TO CALOR GAS ONLY ON THE THIRD TIME OF ASKING DID I AGREE THERE I MET THE LOVE OF MY LIFE LIZ.SHE MOVED ME IN TO HER HOME SHORTLY AFTER... 3 MONTHS LATER I SUFFERED A BLEED ON THE BRAIN AND ONCE AGAIN I WAS SAVED. AFTER BRAIN SURGERY IN SHEFFIELD VIA SOUTHAMPTON GENERAL. I HAVE BEEN FREE OF DRINK AND DRUGS EVER SINCE AND WILL ALWAYS BE GRATEFULL FOR THE DAY I MET BOB LIGHT BECAUSE EVERYTHING CHANGED AT A COST BUT FOR THE BETTER- AMEN
MUCH
PEACE AND LOVE
T.F.
XXX
2021

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​Charity Number: 1130875
St James' by the Park church office: 133 Church Street, Shirley, Southampton, SO15 5LW
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  • Home
  • About Us
    • Vision and Values
    • Where, when and who? >
      • Calendar
      • Staff
      • How to find us
      • Contact Us
      • Hall Hire
    • Stories
    • Blog
    • Prayer
    • Partnerships
  • In the Community
    • Ukraine
    • Families and children >
      • The Ark
    • Teenagers
    • Older people
    • Environment >
      • A Rocha
      • Andrew & Maria Leake
      • Repair Café
    • Mental Wellbeing
    • Inter-Cultural relations
    • Financial Hardship >
      • The Beacon
      • Scratch
    • Worldwide >
      • CMS
      • ​Busoga Uganda
  • Services
    • online services
    • Sundays in St James
    • Explore Together
    • Life events >
      • Baby baptisms and dedications
      • Weddings
      • Funerals
  • Connect
    • Get connected
    • Groups >
      • small groups
      • Sanctuary arts and crafts
      • Men's events
      • Women's events
    • Serving
    • Giving
  • Learn
    • SHAPE
    • Jesus
    • Talks and sermons
    • Alpha
    • Sermon discussion notes
  • APCM
  • ChurchSuite