North Shields food membership scheme helping families combat the cost of living
The £4 fee helps subsidise with the cost of food shops
A new food membership scheme has been set up in North Shields as the rise in inflation forces more families to choose between heating and eating.
The Cedarwood Trust in Meadow Well Estate are asking people to pay four pound a weeks and with that they will be able to choose from a variety of food products which would normally cost around £20.
The scheme is designed to help those living on the breadline or whose income and expenditure fluctuates, and to help supplement families’ weekly shops.
Andy Irwin from the charity says they came up with the initiative as more and more service users are struggling with the increasing rate of inflation.
"It goes a long way", Andy Irwin said.
"It's not meant to replace you weekly shop, but it's meant to supplement it. It gives you a bit more money you can spend at your local Tesco or Co-Op, or you can take the kids for a treat. Everyone needs something nice every once in a while.
"It's a massive step from a reliance from a food bank up to doing your normal weekly shop. We provide the stepping stones, where for £4 you can buy a lot of the basics then you can go to Sainsburys, Tesco or wherever to buy the rest of it.
More than 1000 people being helped through the scheme
Since the scheme opened in late October 2021, people have regularly travelled from North Tyneside, South Tyneside and even Northumberland to use the scheme.
The charity has calculated that since it opened it has helped its members save a total of almost £30,000.
But because the majority of the shop’s stock – including food and household goods – is donated, the prospective costs for families haven’t risen. More than 20 tonnes of food was donated to the charity in 2021 alone.
Statistics released by the charity shows they are helping almost 200 households – amounting to more than 1000 people. Of their members, 20 percent are in employment, 25 percent are retired with the remaining members unemployed and on benefits.
Recent figures show that the cost of food has increased dramatically in recent months, meaning 2.5m households nationwide can’t pay their bills.
Andy added: "It's not just people on benefits, there's a lot of hidden poverty. Even people who have got a job, you can find they have their mortgage of their rent to pay and their savings may have gone through furlough. It's tough."
“Every week our membership is increasing, and it is becoming a real lifeline for people"
Charity CEO Wayne Dobson said: “I have never seen the store so busy before. We can have four people shopping at once, and when I came in the other day there was a queue of 19 people waiting to shop. The next day there were 17.
“Every week our membership is increasing, and it is becoming a real lifeline for people. The few pounds a week they are saving with us might mean they can take their kids out for a treat, or do something positive for themselves. Or it could mean they don’t have to make the impossible choice between eating or putting on the heating for a bit.”
The Cedarwood Trust has been a lifeline for the estate’s residents during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Over the past two years it has given out tens of thousands of free, fresh, healthy meals to those who need them, helping to use up tonnes of donated food in the process, which otherwise would have been thrown away.
Elsewhere, the charity has provided the community with mental health and wellbeing support and access to training and education.