We go inside the Sheffield community kitchen which deals in more than just food
From providing hot meals to food parcels, Manor Parish Community Kitchen and S2 Food Poverty Network food bank service seek to address the underlying causes of food poverty
For some people, a visit to Manor Parish Community Kitchen means having a good old chat with volunteers, for others it means collecting their weekly food parcel from S2 Food Poverty Network (S2 FPN).
Since opening in August last year, the community kitchen has been providing plant-based meals for anyone who’d like to come, with a focus on bringing people together, connecting the local community while S2 FPN addresses the reasons people find themselves in food poverty in the first place.
John Hull, chair of the S2 FPN trustees, said the volunteers aim to make the environment as friendly and positive as possible: “When people come, we try to be smiley, make friends, and win trust.”
He explained how the network’s work goes beyond providing free food.
John said: “We discovered that there are two main causes of food poverty. One is that people are on the wrong benefits, so we’ve given them lots of help to get the right benefits. We also look at debts and pursue PIP tribunals to try and get people their entitlement who’ve previously been turned down. We win nine out of ten of those.”
Volunteer Peter Gregory said the meals allow for people to come in and use the warm space to talk and eat. He also recognises the financial pressures many people are facing from his own experience: “Having recently got a smart meter, it makes me absolutely astounded at how easy it is to rack up a big cost,” he said. “It’s a very tricky time for a lot of people.”
Not only are people able to socialise and receive free food, but they can also speak to a doctor about their health and how it affects their everyday life.
Stephen Spooner, a new volunteer at the S2 FPN, has been attending for two weeks and has been assigned the role of assessing clients’ health and the challenges affecting them.
Stephen said: “The aim is to see what the top problems are and whether there is anything that can be done by the food bank.
“Two people I saw this morning both need higher levels of PIP. We helped them here because neither of them could read the relevant forms. One of them had a hospital appointment but didn’t have any money for transport. If he’d had PIP, he could have gone.”
While a hot meal is what may bring people through the door of Manor Parish Community Kitchen, it is the sense of help, support and comfort that keeps them coming back.
Sarah Short, community kitchen coordinator, said her favourite part about volunteering at the organisation is that she is able to give back to people: “My mission is to help people with food and bring people together in food and community."
For Sarah and so many others, the most important thing on the menu is the feeling of belonging. At the heart of the kitchen is a simple belief: sometimes, making a difference starts with sitting down together.