Dalton Together – Summer food sharing project
4th September 2020
At times of crisis Dalton Together recognised the importance of coming together to support our community and made sure families and individuals didn’t have to worry about where their next meal is coming from, under these extraordinary circumstances.
We particularly wanted to ensure local children, families and isolated older individuals had access to free, freshly cooked healthy meals throughout the summer holidays. So funding was generously given from the Local Ward Councillors to Dalton Together who then partnered up with the Mission Café and Lost Property Kitchen to prepare us x160 meals a week through the 6 week holidays.
Greenfields Family Centre and HD5 Care Packages secured enough donations to be able to create fifty high quality food parcels. Each parcel contained sufficient food to feed a family of four for seven days, as well as, a selection of toiletries and cleaning products
Colleagues from Kirklees Council, Moldgreen United Reformed Church, Kirkheaton Community Centre and Greenfields Family Centre helped distribute 960 meals throughout the summer and gave out 39 food parcels.
We ensured that with every meal families and individuals had access to local helpline numbers such as the Mission, Kirklees Local Welfare Support Service and the Council’s Covid Helpline to ensure more longer term support could be accessed if needed.
With the meals, we also distributed a recipe book, children’s books and gardening kits & activities by partnering up with One 17 Trust and the Grow To Schools Initiative. Syngenta also kindly donated hand sanitiser and face masks for each of our weekly collection points.
The support didn’t stop there, Dalton Together attracted additional support from 3 local volunteers helping out at the collection points and donated items from Humpit, Tesco’s, Morrisons and Moldgreen United Reformed Churche’s community growing garden so we could give out extra treats with the meals and food parcels each week.
This has truly been a collaborative project between….. Ward Councillors, Council Services, community organisations, local businesses and residents which is what Dalton Together (the partnership) aimed to achieve from the offset. This has now given us the confidence to take successful elements of the project and apply for further funding through the lottery in the hope that we secure extra resources so we can continue to develop further food sharing activities across the ward so more people benefit going forward.
Dalton Together would like to thank everyone for their contributions and look forward to developing further collaborative partnership projects in the future to help improve the quality of life for our local residents.
Here are some amazing quotes that sum up what this project has meant to them:
Quotes:
From; Cllr Naheed Mather – “This initiative clearly demonstrates what can be achieved in exceptional circumstances, coming together for the benefit of our communities.
Can I take this opportunity to say a big thank you to all of you for contributing so much of your time and energy to making it happen. Thank You Dalton Together”
From Paul Owner of Lost Property Coffee Shop and Kitchen… I’m Paul and I’m the owner of Lost Property coffee shop and kitchen, situated just off St George’s Square in Huddersfield town centre. I have a little boy, nearly 2 years old. My fiancé and I were set to get married this August but we’ve had to postpone this due to COVID-19. We live in Dalton in a lovely cottage and have good neighbours, which helps to create a real sense of community. I took over the business in August 2019 and had been open just over 6 months when COVID-19 hit. Like many other businesses we were forced to close and were worried what the future would hold for us. After 4 weeks, we decided to trial offering Afternoon Teas for collection and delivery and luckily it has allowed our business to stay afloat. When we were approached by Dalton Together and asked if we would help provide meals for the Summer Food Share Programme, we knew it was a perfect opportunity to give back to our village and the people in it, so did not hesitate to jump on board .”
From; Janette Ward – Local Area Co-ordinator/Community Plus:
One mum said; ‘the meals are really tasty, even my boy who is a fussy eater enjoys them’
Another mum said; ‘we really appreciate the meals, we all enjoy them and we saved the containers and now we are making our own meals in bulk and using the containers to freeze them’ …. Janette said; ‘this quote was from a mum who previously hadn’t cooked meals from scratch and her children got involved choosing the meals and making them. This is a lovely outcome, it increased confidence, they are eating healthier meals and are researching recipes together.’
Janette said; ‘One family shared their appreciation because their cooker broke down just before lockdown and they only received a cooker from the Welcome Centre at the end of August’, the mum said; ‘the meals have been such a big help, two days a week we had healthy meals and not microwave ready meals, I don’t know what we would have done without them.’
One lady said; ‘the meals are delicious, I have arthritis in my hands and wouldn’t be able to make them myself, please thank everyone’
One mum said; ‘seeing you and receiving such lovely food is the highlight of my week’
One gentleman said; ‘the meals are very good, I didn’t know people could be so kind, thank you’
One mum said; ‘the meals have been a life saver, we are really struggling (financially), I can’t thank everyone enough’
