Resurrected Bites Archives - Page 3 of 5

Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal hits £5,000 target in less than a week

There’s been an overwhelming response to the Stray Ferret’s Christmas Appeal for local food charity, Resurrected Bites.

Our target of £5,000 was reached over the weekend – less than a week after we launched the appeal. Public donations now stand at £7,638.

With Harrogate firm Techbuyer generously match funding the first £5,000 of public donations – it means our overall total is now £12,638.

Many of the donations have been given anonymously so whoever you are, we would like to thank you and everyone else who has generously given money in these difficult economic times.

THANK YOU!

But we keep going. As we have a few weeks to go before the appeal ends at midnight on Christmas Eve, we have now raised the overall target to £20,000.

This would give Resurrected Bites almost three months of operating costs, as each month costs the charity a minimum of £7,500 to run the cafes and grocery stores. If you want to know more about the charity please read the stories below.

Michelle Hayes of Resurrected Bites says to hit the target so quickly is amazing:

“I am blown away by the generosity of so many people who have got the total to £7,558 in under a week. This equates to a month’s basic operating costs and with Techbuyer’s amazing donation of 5k match funding on top, we are heading towards covering our costs for two months. We have a lot of anonymous donors and so I have not been able to thank them directly but please know that every penny means so much.

I know there was a significant amount of anxiety amongst some of our service users when they saw the headline that Res Bites might close and I said at the time, I was determined to ensure we wouldn’t close as we know so many rely on our services.

In the same way that we need to talk about mental health more, we also need to talk about food poverty more..I hope these articles [on the Stray Ferret] help to end the stigma and encourage more people to come forward for help as we don’t want anyone to go hungry.”

Please don’t let anyone go hungry this Christmas — Resurrected Bites needs your support.

The more money raised, the more people it can feed at a time of rising demand for its services.

Thank you again. To donate click here.

Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal: Ukrainian refugees relying on Resurrected Bites for food in Knaresborough

This year’s Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal is for Resurrected Bites in Harrogate and Knaresborough. Today, Vicky meets a Ukrainian family who have relied on its support this year. Please give generously to support local people who are struggling this Christmas. They need your help.

“We thought we would come here for a year, then we would go back to Ukraine. Now… I don’t know.”

Andre and Irina left their home near Kyiv after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They arrived in Knaresborough with their two daughters – then aged three and 11 months – in late May.

With few possessions and no income they were directed towards Resurrected Bites. Andre said:

“Before September, I was looking for work. In September I started a course at Harrogate College in electrical engineering.

“I have a university degree in electrical engineering. I had a good job. UK wiring systems are different, so the course means I will be able to get a job here.”

Both he and Irina, who has been a full-time mum since their children were born, have also been learning English as a second language.

Their eldest daughter, now four, is enrolled in a local pre-school and is becoming more settled every day. Her younger sister will, hopefully, sign up after she turns two next year.

The family have been living in rooms at a local pub, arranged through the government’s Ukraine programme, but this was only for six months. They have recently been forced to find a new home in order to continue receiving support from the programme for the next six months.

He said:

“After this time, we will have to pay rent. I have no job and I will only be able to find a job after my course ends in July.

“How will I pay for our accommodation until then?”

Not only have the family been supported by Resurrected Bites, they have also become part of the community at Gracious Street Methodist Church, practising their Christian faith and getting to know others in the area.

Andre has begun volunteering in the community grocery on his day off college, giving back support to the organisation that has helped his family.

They are permitted to stay here for three years and to find jobs, but those three years don’t count towards any future citizenship application. That would require a further five years in the UK.

The future remains uncertain for them in so many ways. Returning to Ukraine would not be simple either: the population of the capital city is less than half what it used to be and Andre said it took many years to rebuild after the devastation of the Second World War.

Some of Andre’s family members are now living elsewhere in the UK, but Irina’s parents are still in Ukraine. She said:

“They are OK, but very afraid. It’s a very hard life for them.”

The family still see Ukraine as their home, but at the moment it would be impossible to return. Andre added:

“There’s no electricity – only for a few hours a day. Russian forces destroyed the electricity station. There’s no water.

“It’s winter in Ukraine and it’s freezing. I don’t know how many people will die, because the freeze is very dangerous.”

They are just one example of the Ukrainian refugees living in the Harrogate district who are being supported by Resurrected Bites.

The organisation is a lifeline to people who have fled the war and are trying to build a new life for themselves in the Harrogate district.

Like Andre, many are retraining and hoping to find employment – but the ticking clock of the government’s year-long support hangs over them all.

In the meantime, organisations like Resurrected Bites are ensuring none of them go without food this winter.

Nobody in the Harrogate district should go hungry this Christmas.

It costs £300 to run the community grocery for one day. Please help to keep it open for everyone who relies on it.

Click here to contribute now. Thank you.

Where would you turn if you couldn’t afford to feed your family?

This year’s Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal is for Resurrected Bites in Harrogate and Knaresborough. Please read Vicky’s story about the charity’s community grocery below and give generously to support local people who are struggling this Christmas. They need your help.

At 9am on a Friday morning, Gracious Street Methodist Church in Knaresborough is already humming with energy.

The doors to the community grocery run by Resurrected Bites have just opened, but the volunteers have been here for well over an hour.

Amid the scene of boxes being unpacked and food being moved around by a dozen people, I meet grocery manager Carolyn Aitken, who tells me:

“It’s always manic on a Friday morning! It’s our busiest day.

“About 11am is our busiest time. We might get a bit of a break for a coffee, then it’s generally quieter through the rest of the day.”

The grocery was stocked yesterday, she says, with tinned and packaged food, but deliveries of fresh and frozen items continue to arrive throughout the morning.

They mostly arrive with volunteers who have been picking up food from shops across the Harrogate district.

Some are fresh foods about to go out of date, but perfectly safe be frozen to eat later. Others are tinned and packaged foods which will last for months more, but their best before dates don’t meet the exacting needs of supermarkets.

Catherine Crompton is the warehouse manager for Resurrected Bites. She uses her professional experience in food technology and PhD in food science to ensure everything that is sold is still of the right standard, including being properly labelled with allergens.

A delivery from Greggs is meticulously labelled before going on sale

As well as the new stock arriving, there is a steady stream of customers coming to the grocery. To be part of the scheme, each has gone through a registration process, ensuring they are in real need.

These aren’t necessarily people who are unemployed: some have faced a crisis, such as the loss of a partner, serious ill health, or a dramatic change in circumstances. Some simply can’t cover all their outgoings, especially as bills rise.

Carolyn said:

“We have had people who I know work, who use us. That’s all kinds of wrong.

“We give people the opportunity to pay in advance, so they know they can come every week and do their shop until the next time they get their money. It takes the pressure off.”

Members pay an annual membership fee of £5 and then a nominal charge for each shop: £3 for a small household, or £6 for a family of four or more.

Food waste

There are shelves and cabinets heaving with everything you might find in a supermarket: tinned tuna and beans, dried pasta, rice, breakfast cereal, meat, fruit and vegetables, custard, toothpaste, nappies, cleaning products and more.

There’s a counter of bread, cakes and other baked goods – all considered not good enough for supermarkets to sell to their customers, but all perfectly fresh and delicious enough to eat.

Looking at the amount of food here, it’s genuinely shocking to realise that it could all have been thrown in the bin.

Resurrected Bites has intercepted tons and tons of food waste since its first community grocery opened at New Park in Harrogate in October 2021, followed by Gracious Street in December. In total, 5,600 shops have been done by people who could not otherwise afford to feed themselves and their families.

Some of the people who rely on the grocery tell me they feel more comfortable with its model than with hand-outs, because it saves perfectly edible food from landfill – and because they pay.

Deborah Stocks began taking food parcels from Resurrected Bites during covid, when she was caring for her husband who had cancer. He died in late 2020 and, the following year, she began volunteering.

She collects donations from local supermarkets and brings them to Gracious Street on a Friday.

When we meet, she’s sitting with her mum, Jackie Lowden, who tells me:

“I’m on my own and I’m a pensioner. I live in a bungalow, but I haven’t put the heating on this year. I can’t afford it.

“Deborah told me about Resurrected Bites, and I thought, ‘that’s not for me’. But I can’t afford to buy food – it’s that ‘heat or eat’ thing.

“The good thing about this is that you do pay, it’s not just a hand-out. And now I volunteer too.”

Many of the volunteers are grocery members themselves. There’s a real sense of everyone pitching in to ensure it meets the needs of the community – and a very welcoming atmosphere to visitors old and new.

A big operation

But this is no simple set-up. There are 150 volunteers and five staff ensuring Resurrected Bites runs like clockwork.

They sort food in the warehouse, distribute it to the community groceries and cafés, check stock levels, help customers and ensure anyone who needs help can access it.

While Resurrected Bites takes plenty of tinned tuna, dried pasta and soup, it’s often short on ingredients for cooing and baking, such as flour and sugar. Tea bags are plentiful, but instant coffee is not.

To fill the gaps, Resurrected Bites has to buy supplies every week. They often come from national food waste charity Fareshare, which redistributes items from supermarkets and other suppliers.

Retired nurse Jennie Naylor began volunteering with Resurrected Bites during the covid pandemic, along with her husband Paul, and now helps at the community grocery once a week.

“We really enjoy it, while I would say being shocked at the number of people in this situation.

“It’s the meeting people. We both enjoy feeling useful and giving something to our community.

“We’ve enjoyed getting to know the other volunteers as well – they’re all just wonderful.”

I can’t imagine opening my cupboards at home to find nothing there, while my children are hungry and I know I can’t afford to buy anything. It must be incredibly stressful.

To know an organisation like Resurrected Bites is there to support you when times are tough must be an enormous relief.

Nobody in the Harrogate district should go hungry this Christmas.

It costs £300 to run the community grocery for one day. Please help to keep it open for everyone who relies on it.

Click here to contribute now.

Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal 2022: Help ensure nobody goes hungry this Christmas

This year’s Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal is for Resurrected Bites in Harrogate and Knaresborough. Please read Vicky’s story about the charity below and give generously to support local people who are struggling this Christmas. They need your help.

This Christmas, there are local people – colleagues, neighbours, friends – young, elderly and working age people — who will not be able to put food on their tables.

There is help at hand from local organisation Resurrected Bites – but it’s facing a tough time too.

Just weeks ago, it warned it faced an uncertain future: its own costs are rising, the amount being donated had dropped, and more and more people are looking for help.

That’s why, from now until Christmas, the Stray Ferret is calling on everyone to give their support to this vital local organisation to help us secure its future.

All donations go directly to Resurrected Bites and will be generously match-funded by Harrogate firm Techbuyer, up to the value of £5,000.

Over the next four weeks, I’ll bring you stories that show just how important the work of Resurrected Bites is. Please read them, share them, and donate whatever you can.

The story of Resurrected Bites

“Harrogate is a really difficult place to be poor.

“There’s this perception that it’s all rosy, but that’s not the case for a lot of people.”

It was this realisation that prompted Michelle Hayes to do something to make a difference across the Harrogate district.

The former research scientist founded a food waste café as part of her role as mission and outreach worker, employed by St Mark’s Church but covering the whole of Harrogate.

Resurrected Bites began life in 2018 in the foyer of the church on Leeds Road, using food from supermarkets and some local hospitality businesses which would otherwise be thrown away. There was nothing wrong with the food, other than perhaps passing its ‘best before’ guidance date – but it would have ended up in a bin.

She was inspired by the Real Junk Food Project in Leeds, founded by Adam Smith. Not only was it reducing food waste, it was making a significant difference to people. Michelle said:

“It literally saved a guy’s life. He had lost his job and had no money, and he couldn’t see a way forward. He was contemplating ending his own life.

“He walked past the café, went in and got a meal, and ended up becoming a volunteer. It saved his life.”

The Harrogate café proved to be a success. Not only did it reduce food waste across the Harrogate area, it provided hot meals on a pay-as-you-feel basis to local people, and offered an opportunity to soclialise too.

Michelle turned it into a community interest company, meaning it is run for the benefit of the community and its income is used to continue this work.

Expansion

In 2020, Resurrected Bites began to expand, with a second café at Gracious Street Methodist Church in Knaresborough launching in January, followed by a third at West Park United Reformed Church, in early March.

Then, of course, everything changed.

The arrival of covid meant the cafes all had to close immediately, but Michelle and the small team of volunteers knew there was still a role for them. They began distributing food parcels to the many local people who suddenly found themselves out of work and short on money.

Just a fraction of the food donated to Resurrected Bites every week during covid lockdowns

At the height of covid, they were intercepting three tonnes of food waste every week and ensuring it reached people who would otherwise not have enough to eat.

Michelle said:

“I realised the scale of food poverty in the area. It was shocking.

“I knew then that once we stopped doing the deliveries, we still had to have a mechanism to get things to people who really needed it.”

Community groceries

While restrictions were still in place, Michelle began working on the next stage of the project: community groceries.

Using the same principle as the cafés of taking food that was still perfectly edible but would not be sold commercially, they were designed to help households who could not afford enough food.

The community groceries allow people to choose their own food from the shelves. Members pay a small fee – £3 for a household up to three, £6 for four or more people – and for that can select a set number of fresh, frozen and packaged goods, as well as toiletries and household products.

Two groceries opened in autumn 2021, at Gracious Street and New Park Community Hub. Demand has grown enormously in the year since, as their reputation has spread.

The number of customers at the cafés has also risen and there are plans in place to open a third, in Killinghall, in the new year. Michelle said:

“When I set up the cafes, the community groceries weren’t even on my radar.

“Resurrected Bites has been a lot more successful than I had anticipated. It is meeting a lot of need in our community.”

It’s clear the cafés and groceries are badly needed. With the cost of living crisis hitting and recession looming, that need is only likely to grow.

It already costs £7,500 every month to deliver those vital services. Please donate to the Stray Ferret’s Christmas appeal to ensure Resurrected Bites can continue supporting people who badly need it in 2023 and beyond.

Nobody in the Harrogate district should go hungry this Christmas.

Whatever you can donate will help local people to feed themselves – and prevent food waste too.

Just £10 can pay for a family’s weekly shopping in the community grocery. Click here to contribute now.

Knaresborough Connectors aim to bring community together in ‘living rooms’

A community organisation in Knaresborough is hoping to bring people together for mutual support through the cost of living crisis.

Knaresborough Connectors is establishing a number of “public living rooms” – a home from home offering a comfortable, warm space to be.

Rather than inviting the elderly or vulnerable to sit in them, though, the group is keen to ensure the whole community comes together through the rooms for everyone’s benefit.

Director Nick Garrett said:

“We aren’t going for the idea of welcoming in poor people from the cold. All the evidence says if you target towards frail, elderly people, they don’t come. This is for anyone and everyone.

“The rooms will be like someone’s living room at home: warm and comfy and with nice furnishings.

“[Knaresborough councillor] Hannah Gostlow’s background is in interior design. She’s designing some really cool-looking living rooms for us.”

The first community living room will be in Knaresborough Library‘s chill-out zone, which is currently being designed and transformed by volunteers.

A further two will follow at Chain Lane Community Hub and Gracious Street Methodist Church. There will also be a co-working space at 8 York Place.

The aim is for people to use them as a social space. They might go there to knit, to have a cup of tea or watch TV, or to play board games or read books. While there, they might meet others who want to learn to knit or play a game, or who might simply want someone to talk to.

Mr Garrett said the community living rooms would run alongside support from Resurrected Bites, which runs a community grocery and a pay-as-you-feel cafe in the town.

Knaresborough Connectors is also using social prescribing, encouraging people and businesses in the community to refer others to its team to access what they need.

He said:

“There was a hairdresser in Knaresborough who was cutting a customer’s hair and he told her he was on the brink of homelessness. She contacted us through someone else and he’s now been rehoused.

“There will be lots of people like that coming out of the woodwork because they can’t afford things. There’s also lots of support and advice from Knaresborough Connectors.”

The group is now urging everyone in the town to get involved in one of three ways: engaging with people simply by saying hello, using talents and gifts to help others, and sharing what they can, such as donating to local charity shops and community organisations.

Mr Garrett said research showed reducing social isolation also helped to relieve pressure on the NHS as people were less likely to visit the GP or be admitted to hospital if they were well supported in the community.

By engaging people who are struggling to be part of the network of support, Mr Garrett said everyone could make a difference for each other.

For more details, visit the Warm and Welcome page of the Knaresborough Connectors website.

Volunteer sets up artisan market in Knaresborough to support food waste charity

A monthly artisan market will raise funds for a food waste and food poverty charity covering Harrogate and Knaresborough.

Held at Gracious Street Methodist Church, Knaresborough Artisan Market will have stalls across three rooms featuring independent traders.

It will raise funds for Resurrected Bites, which runs community groceries and pay-as-you-feel cafes in the same venue and in Harrogate.

The market runs from 10am to 3pm tomorrow, Saturday, with more dates booked in for Saturday, November 5 and Saturday December 3.

As well as refreshments and cakes, traders will be selling jewellery, art, crystals, gifts, candles, beauty products, vegan and eco products, and more.

The market is being organised by Resurrected Bites volunteer Jade Lapsley.

The charity’s chief executive Michelle Hayes said:

“We have challenging times ahead to meet the demand for our services. In order to run our community groceries and give-as-you-can community cafes and shops, we still need to run various fundraising activities to help cover our costs.

“One of those activities is the Starbeck Artisan Market. This is a great opportunity to support the local economy and start Christmas shopping in addition to helping Resurrected Bites raise much needed funds.”

Earlier this month, Resurrected Bites appealed for more corporate supporters in order to ensure it could continue to support vulnerable people through the cost of living crisis.

While it said it has funding in place for the next six months, the amount of food waste being donated had dropped and the charity was having to buy in more in order to meet demand.

Food waste organisation Resurrected Bites warns it could close

Food waste organisation Resurrected Bites has issued a plea for help to businesses after warning it might not survive another year.

The community organisation, which saves food from landfill, has helped thousands of people struggling to get by since it started in January 2018. It operates Give As You Can cafes and shops in Harrogate and Knaresborough.

Founder Michelle Hayes appealed for support at last night’s Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce meeting. She said Resurrected Bites had generated £87,000 and spent £91,000 this year, adding:

“A huge number of people rely on us so we need to look at ways we can still be around in 12 months’ time.

“Since the jubilee, our food supplies have dropped off. We are going to have to start paying for it.”

Michelle Hayes speaking at last night’s chamber meeting.

Speaking to the Stray Ferret afterwards, Ms Hayes said Resurrected Bites currently had sufficient income to survive another six months.

She said it was becoming harder to find supplies because more people were buying reduced price items from supermarkets that might otherwise go to Resurrected Bites.

Ms Hayes also said some supermarkets’ decisions to scrap best before dates was a good move overall but it contributed to there being less food waste in the system for organisations such as Resurrected Bites. She said:

“Fundraising is more challenging because of the economic challenges people are facing.

“We’ve got six months’ income left. I don’t wan’t to go much below that.”

Community invited to ‘fill up a parking space’ with food amid cost of living crisis

The Harrogate district community is set to come together this weekend to help hungry families struggling with the cost of living crisis.

People are being encouraged to fill a parking space with food at Morrisons, Boroughbridge, which will then be donated to food banks in the area.

The event, which will take place from 10am – 4pm on Saturday, is being led by the supermarket’s community champions, Sue Robson and Karen Cooper.

Ms Cooper said:

“As you are aware, the current financial climate is beginning to affect many local families and further putting already vulnerable households at risk of going hungry. Now, more than ever, people are needing to utilise the services of food banks.

We are joining forces with local food banks to create an event which hopefully should create awareness, and ultimately, provide more food for families in need.

“We hope this event will help to inspire our community to begin, or continue, to donate to local food banks, should they be in the position to do so.”

Read more:

Customers, staff, and the wider community are encouraged to come and donate non-perishable food and place it in an empty parking space, which will be cordoned off on the day.

The idea is that the parking space, or spaces, will be filled and then distributed to food banks in the area. These include Resurrected Bites, in Harrogate and Knaresborough, Boroughbridge Community Care and other local causes.

Customers can purchase food from pre-made pick-up packs at the supermarket, or can bring their own from home. They can also buy items off the shelves.

Allotment show set to draw keen growers to Harrogate’s Valley Gardens

The best of the Harrogate district’s allotment produce will be on show in the town’s Valley Gardens this weekend.

The annual Harrogate District Allotment Show will see keen growers submit the results of their hard work for judging.

Taking place for the 61st time, the event is held in the Sun Pavilion and is free to attend. Judging will be held on Sunday from 10am before the Mayor of the Borough of Harrogate, Cllr Victoria Oldham, officially opens the show.

It is organised by Harrogate and District Allotment Federation, which has 16 member allotments in its group, sharing tips and knowledge to improve their results.

Secretary Angela Dicken said:

“Entries are slightly down on last year, but I think that’s to do with the weather. We will be a bit weather-hit this year, particularly because the entries had to be in 10 days ago when it was very hot.

“The entries for the flowers show have been quite badly hit. But we have still got a good selection for judging and for people to see.

“There are some people who enter every year, but we always get some new allotment holders entering too. Sometimes people think you have to be a real expert gardener to take part, but really you just need some nice veg.

“I would always encourage people to come and have a look if they are thinking of entering next year, to get an idea of what it’s all about.”

As well as viewing the exhibits, visitors can buy cakes, produce, plants and books donated by plot holders from across the district. A tombola and raffle will be held, alongside stalls from local organisations and charities.

Live music will be provided from 1.30pm when Stray Horns take to the bandstand.

Produce from the show will be donated to food waste charity Resurrected Bites, while proceeds from any sales will be given to Woodlands Community Garden.

Harrogate residents offer a peek inside their quirky gardens

In the early 20th century there was a quarry in Harrogate known as Stone Rings.

Fast forward more than a hundred years and you will now find it has been replaced by a number of stunning gardens on the steep hillside.

And this weekend, visitors will be able to visit admire six of them at an open gardens event that will raise money for charity.

Jen Dening, one of the garden owners on Stone Rings Close, which is just off Leeds Road, said:

“There will be a gentle nod towards the Platinum Jubilee.”

The event will take place on Saturday and Sunday from noon until 5pm, priced at £6 for adults. Under 12s are free.

It has been held a number of times since 2003 after a group of residents came together with the idea to raise money for charity.

In 2020 a virtual event took place as a result of the pandemic, which still managed to raise more than £1,300.

It is hoped that thousands will be raised this year for the Harrogate Homeless Project’s 30th anniversary and Resurrected Bites, a local charity operating pay-as-you-feel cafes and community groceries.

Mrs Dening added:

“Stone Rings was a quarry, so the topography is challenging for making gardens. Four of the gardens have steep banks running down to a beck with woodland areas.

“All of the gardens open this year have had major or minor structural work done since last time. So if you have been before, you will see improvements. There are two gardens new to opening, with hard landscaping and planting done completely by the owners.”

Refreshments and other stalls will be available, along with a children’s quiz.

Read More:

Read more:

Food waste

A big operation

The story of Resurrected Bites

Expansion

Community groceries

Read more:

Read more:

Read more:

Read more:

Read more:

Read more: