In increasingly isolating times, too many of us are carrying the load of parenting and modern life alone, and when one person in a family is struggling, it can affect whole families.
Family Action’s FOOD clubs do more than help families put food on the table in a cost-of-living crisis. They help people build and strengthen the connections that support mental health.
I don’t think I could survive without it. I’ve made friendships from coming here.
Sarah is a volunteer and member of one of our Bristol FOOD clubs. Sarah told us,
Some people don’t see anyone during the week, but they come here and they feel welcome and they stay and have a chat. I’ve seen people come out their shell.
The FOOD club is important because there’s a real need for it. You see families from all walks of life here, including working families, but people are in poverty. People need this food; they need this club to be open.
Family Action’s FOOD Clubs help families of all shapes and sizes
Angela gave up work last year because she looks after seven grandchildren using food from the club. She told us, “I have them three days a week, and I pick them up from school on different days. I’ve had them for the last nine years, from babies in some cases.’
FOOD club has helped absolutely… you could say massively. With so many grandkids I have to make large meals. I’ve got three slow cookers, and on a Monday, I’ll make three lots of meals – things like spaghetti bolognaise. There is such a friendly bunch of people at the FOOD club, they’re so supportive.
The people are so important to me. I didn’t know anyone when I came here and then, when you get to know them, they’re all just lovely.”
I had a seizure and I couldn’t come for a bit - you don’t know the sort of things life is going to hand you - and other FOOD club members offered to bring my food home for me.
Spenser told us how without the club he wouldn’t have found his job:
Our chips were down as I was made redundant and the FOOD club was recommended through a local children’s centre. That was the original reason we came, as it was difficult to make ends meet.
Because we’ve known the staff here a long time now and we’ve got a connection to both the FOOD club and the church, it helped me to find work here as a caretaker, but if it wasn’t for the FOOD clubs we’d have never been involved.
It’s more than food… it’s about community
Heather is a single parent and on a low income. She told us how important the club is to her:
We’re all in a similar situation, trying to make our finances work. If the FOOD club wasn’t available, it would impact me a lot and I think I would probably have to go to the food banks, because things really are tight for us, even though I’m working.
We’ve got a friendly atmosphere here. You can have a cup of tea and cake and meet up with people you don’t see often. Everyone is so friendly and the volunteers are so good.
Rachel a FOOD club member and self-confessed foody, agrees how important the community is.
“It’s where you can meet people; where people know your name and you recognise a friendly face. If there are things in your life that you feel stressed about you can share them. It’s more than food… it’s about community.
If we miss a week then we really struggle, but it’s a space where I can share those struggles. You come here for the FOOD club, but you end up talking about everything; what’s going on with your mental health and your life.
You really feel part of community… and that’s what everyone wants.”
Family Action launched Food On Our Doorstep (FOOD) Clubs to provide good-quality food at a low cost, while also reducing food waste. We have over 30 FOOD clubs around the country offering many different activities according to local need.
