THE city of Wigan, Lancashire, which has some of the most deprived housing developments in the Greater Manchester area, plans to be free of food banks by 2030.
Instead, the city in the diocese of Liverpool is building a network of so-called food pantries based in Wigan’s churches. Instead of spending food once or twice a week, they offer shopping baskets of 20 basic items for an annual fee of £ 5 and payment for whatever the recipient can afford.
“Food chambers are the great vision of the Wigan Church and the Wigan Council,” Wigan Team Vicar and Project Coordinator Revd Mark Wade said this week. “The template gives people more choice than a board. There is more freedom; they are open to everyone and not on a recommendation basis. They give people personal responsibility and self-esteem. “
The plan is based on a successful program launched in St. Barnabas’s, Marsh Green in 2014 that aimed not just to support food, but to teach people how to get the most out of the food available. It used “intercepted” food – short-lived supermarket products that would otherwise be wasted – supplied by the Real Junk Food Project and the Wigan community group Fur Clemt, a local dialect for “very hungry”.
In 2019 a second project, Tom’s Pantry, opened at the St James Center, Poolstock, when the Covid lockdown began. It remained open to offering bags from the door and making deliveries to people self-isolating. Last Christmas, his volunteers delivered 1,000 baskets of food. The community loved the concept and now Wigan has four other pantries in Christ Church, St Nathaniel’s, St James’s and St Stephen’s. About 300 families use it every week.
Municipal Fund of the ChurchSarah collects groceries in the Ashton Pantry in St. Thomas’s Church Hall, Wigan
In August they added a Saturday “Faith Cafe” at the St James Center, offering an ad-lib meal service.
“We are beginning to see it as a place to meet disciples,” said Mr Wade: “All these young families come to church buildings that they would never have entered before, stay for tea or coffee and toast – and begin the journey, asking questions and simply being loved and cared for by the local church. “
One of them is Tracy Mathioudakis, a mother of two who was homeless for five years before finding a home in Wigan. “I was very, very broke. I ran out of steam, ”she said. Then she discovered Tom’s Pantry and Alison Brown helping run it.
“She is an absolutely amazing lady. She was so nice to me; She told me not to worry about the £ 5 enrollment fee and they dropped off a bag of food. At Christmas she told me that someone had donated £ 30 to the Church to give to someone and she had thought of me. I just thought it was such a beautiful gesture. They gave me hope when there really wasn’t any. My blessings are immense because of the people they are in this church. “
Now she is studying in the Alpha course and cooking in the café kitchen. “I help out at church almost every day,” she said. “I clean, I cook and I love every minute of it. Nobody shoves religion down your throat: they just show the goodness of God. Going to the café was wonderful for me. I feel fulfilled I feel part of something amazing. “
Revd Neil Cook, Rector of the Church Wigan Team, said: “The Church has always sought to feed the hungry as a token of God’s love for all. Wigan has a rich history of Christian churches of many denominations and traditions fulfilling this mission.
“The sales outlets are not boards, but rather a supplement to them. You purposely do not provide a handout; Instead, they promote dignity and self-determination by providing their members with quality food, a supportive community, and opportunities to manage money and make choices in sports.
“We understand that grocery stores will continue to play an important role beyond the lockdown. You will remain an important part of Church Wigan’s mission as we live God’s love by feeding the hungry. “
