community grocery Archives - The Stray Ferret

Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal: Match funding brings total to more than £30,000

This year’s Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal is for Resurrected Bites in Harrogate and Knaresborough. Today, the final day of our appeal, we look at its success and the difference your donations will make to this vital organisation.

The fundraising page remains open. Please give generously to support local people who are struggling this Christmas. They need your help.

The last four weeks have seen an incredible £25,000 donated to the Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal.

The campaign has been supported by Techbuyer, which generously offered to match fund up to £5,000 of donations from the public and other businesses.

With their contribution now added, the total raised through the appeal is more than £30,000. Helen Blakey from Techbuyer said:

“Techbuyer have been involved with Resurrected Bites in various capacities over the last couple of years donating IT hardware and providing monetary donations.

“As champions of the circular economy, we think it is important that every resource is properly used – especially when precious food can help sustain someone in need. That’s why we chose to work with Resurrected Bites as their values really resonate with ours.

“We are amazed at the generosity of local people and businesses that have helped increase the total. It is reassuring to know that, with the success of this appeal, many more people can enjoy as merry a Christmas as possible.”

Thank you to everyone who has given any amount, large or small, to our appeal. Every penny will go directly to Resurrected Bites and will make an enormous difference to local people.

Thanks to your generosity, Resurrected Bites goes into 2023 with a more certain future.

Not only can it continue to support the customers who rely on its community groceries and enjoy its pay-as-you-feel cafe, it can welcome more people through the doors.

Times are hard for many and, with the cost of living set to rise further next year, it is likely more people will find themselves struggling to pay their bills and put food on the table.

Some of the stories we have heard have shown just how easily people can fall into a situation where their incomes do not cover all their outgoings.

Take Ickle Mills, mum to a young son, who found her maternity pay was nowhere near what she had expected. Despite her partner’s steady job and good income, the family suddenly struggled to afford food after the added expense of a baby. She said:

“All of a sudden, we were hundreds of pounds down a month on what I would have earned.

“We were at the point of incurring a lot of debt. Thanks to Resurrected Bites, we didn’t. It was the only thing that kept us from having to fall into quite bad debt.”

Resurrected Bites enabled the couple to buy milk and other supplies for their son, as well as putting food on the table for themselves. As he moved onto solid food, Ickle found she had access to produce she might otherwise not have been able to buy, giving him a varied, healthy diet – all while reducing the amount of food going to landfill.

Then there was Justin Hardcastle, for whom a series of bereavements led to a mental health crisis – and Resurrected Bites was among the organisations that stepped in to help, alongside housing charity Lifeline. Now volunteering in its grocery and cafe, he told us:

“I love coming here. It gives me a purpose. Everyone is so friendly and I feel like I’m giving something back.

“It’s heart-warming and beneficial for me, just to be part of a team and know I’m appreciated…

“I feel like I contribute – I give as much as I can. Thinking about where I was, if it wasn’t for Resurrected Bites, Lifeline and my network of friends, I don’t know where I would be now.”

Justin Hardcastle, left, and Lara Rundle

For single mum of four Lara Rundle, the problems began when her youngest child went away to university.

A small pay rise from the NHS meant she was no longer entitled to benefits, leaving her £90 a month worse off – and health problems for her and one of her children further impacted on her finances.

Speaking to her GP practice about the challenges she faced, Lara was referred to Resurrected Bites. She told the Stray Ferret:

“You feel you are paying something, so it’s not a hand-out. It’s fresh fruit and vegetables. They’re the kind of things I can’t afford to buy.

“If I go to the supermarket, the only thing I have to buy is cheese and butter, sometimes meat. There’s stuff there I could never have afforded to buy even if I wasn’t in this situation.”

The impact on her mental health has been significant, taking away the pressures she was feeling. She said:

“It has made such a massive difference. I know I don’t have to worry.

“If you have an extra fiver you put it on your account so you don’t have to worry about paying next time.

“I just can’t thank them enough. They’re angels. The service is a life-saver.”

Resurrected Bites also has plans to extend its service and reach more people in new communities.

In early spring, founder Michelle Hayes hopes to open its third pay-as-you-feel cafe, this time at Killinghall Methodist Church.

Like the others at Gracious Street Methodist Church in Knaresborough and Harrogate’s West Park United Reformed Church, it will use food that would otherwise go to waste. Ingredients collected from supermarkets and other commercial outlets will be turned into delicious, filling hot meals.

A roast beef dinner at Resurrected Bites’ pay-as-you-feel cafe in Knaresborough

They’re sold on a pay-as-you-feel basis: if anyone can’t otherwise afford to eat out, they can contribute whatever they are able for their meal. The cafes are also open to those who can afford to give more, as cafe manager Ian Booth told the Stray Ferret:

“Often, people don’t come because they think it’s just for people who are struggling. We’re absolutely dependent on people who can afford to give generously.

“At the same time, it’s great when people come who can’t afford to, knowing that someone who is struggling has had a good hot meal.”

As Ian begins to look towards retirement, Resurrected Bites is recruiting cafe managers for both the new Killinghall cafe and the West Park cafe. Ian knows just what a privilege the roles will offer:

“I always think one of the best things about my job is the people I work with.

“We’re totally reliant on volunteers. The sort of people that volunteer are nice people, kind and caring, thinking of others.

“I just feel so blessed to have so many nice people to work with.”

To find out more about Resurrected Bites and the paid and voluntary roles it has available, visit its Facebook page.

While the Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal has officially ended, the donation page will remain open over the Christmas period.

Click here to contribute now. Thank you.

Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal: Making Christmas special for struggling families

This year’s Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal is for Resurrected Bites in Harrogate and Knaresborough. Today, Vicky finds out what its team and supporters have been doing to ensure its customers can have a happy Christmas, even in difficult circumstances.

Our appeal runs for two more days. Please give generously to support local people who are struggling this Christmas. They need your help.

The festive season may be upon us, but demand for help from Resurrected Bites has never been higher.

Sophia Clark, who runs the organisation’s community grocery in New Park, said:

“We’ve had a really busy two weeks. It’s going to be busy up to Christmas.

“We’re getting a lot of new people in – two just this morning.

“On Tuesday, I had a woman in pieces. She had three children on her own and had gone to do her food shopping. Her direct debit had changed for her gas and electric and they’d left her overdrawn.”

Along with the volunteers at New Park, Sophia was able to fill the woman’s freezer to see her through the festive period and ensure her children wouldn’t go hungry.

She later received a message thanking her for what she had done, concluding: “God bless you, you are a diamond and a special one at that.”

Sadly, the woman was just one of many who have been forced to call on Resurrected Bites for the first time this month alone.

Sophia said:

“We’re seeing lots of things like that at the moment – people in absolute dire straits.

“We’ve had a lot of pensioners in. One lady had gone to deliver a Christmas card to a friend and found her shaking and freezing. She couldn’t afford the heating.”

Sophia said some of the stories she hears are heart-breaking. Along with volunteer Karen Martin, who also speaks to people arriving at the community grocery to ensure it can meet their needs, Sophia said she often cries in the office behind closed doors once the visitor has left, before getting back to work.

But the very tough side of the job is balanced by the heart-warming elements.

Sophia knows she is making a difference at a time of crisis for many people – messages like the one from the mum whose bill had left her overdrawn provide some comfort amid all the challenges.

There is also fantastic generosity towards Resurrected Bites and its customers, especially at this time of year.

When I visited the New Park community grocery last week, there was a small Santa’s grotto in the corner, with a volunteer ensuring children could meet Father Christmas even if their parents couldn’t afford to buy tickets for a commercial event.

The shelves had been stacked that morning with toys and chocolates for those who wouldn’t be able to afford treats. Although they had been snapped up quickly, more were still coming in and being laid out for other customers.

Resurrected Bites founder Michelle Hayes said:

“A few people have expressed concern about not being able to buy presents for their families this year.

“The last thing we want is people taking out loans. So we’ve been able to give out presents to make sure they have something to unwrap on Christmas Day.”

Businesses and individuals have been generous with selection boxes, tubs of sweets and other small luxuries for Resurrected Bites to distribute to its customers.

There have also been deliveries of blankets, warm jumpers and festive decorations.

The Christmas tree in Santa’s grotto at New Park came from the festival at St Thomas the Apostle Church in Killinghall, donated by Mole Country Stores near Ripley. After being on display at the community grocery, the firm asked that it be given to a family who wouldn’t otherwise have a Christmas tree.

The amount of food and other treats available is a dramatic improvement from earlier this year, when demand was outstripping the volume of waste food arriving from supermarkets.

Sophia said the kind of generosity in evidence in the run-up to Christmas – and knowing how much difference she and the volunteers could make to people – is what has kept her going in challenging times.

“I look at those people and the feedback I get. That’s what I do this for: I get to help people and make a change.

“I had message after message last night from people asking if they could come down [to shop]. I’m just so grateful we’ve got the food to give them.

“A couple of months ago, it was so low, but now at least I know nobody has to go without for Christmas.”

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: ‘We had good jobs but we were still struggling’

This year’s Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal is for Resurrected Bites in Harrogate and Knaresborough. Today, Vicky speaks to a local family who suddenly found themselves without enough money to buy basic supplies.

Please give generously to support local people who are struggling this Christmas. They need your help.

“People were really shocked to find out we were struggling. We had struggled very quietly.”

Ickle Mills and her partner Paul Hobrough were managing well until 2021.

He worked as a refrigeration engineer, while she had two jobs: one at Hotel Chocolat and the other at the Odeon.

Suddenly, a change in circumstances meant they were struggling to afford even the basics.

“It surprised a lot of people we went to Resurrected Bites. On the outside, to look at, Paul has got a fairly good job.

“I had gone on maternity leave at work and I hadn’t realised having two jobs can be problematic.

“All of a sudden, we were hundreds of pounds down a month on what I would have earned.

“We were at the point of incurring a lot of debt. Thanks to Resurrected Bites, we didn’t. It was the only thing that kept us from having to fall into quite bad debt.”

With a young son to look after, the couple were struggling to afford to feed themselves.

Paul and Ickle became customers of the community interest company’s New Park Community Grocery in Harrogate. They paid £3 a week for a shop of around 20 items, including fresh fruit and vegetables, tinned food, and toiletries including nappies.

The counters at the community groceries show how many of each kind of item can be bought in each shop

Ickle said:

“We could do our food shop there and get stuff for the baby.

“I had real problems breastfeeding and had to buy powdered milk. One of my items [from the grocery] was a £12 tub of baby milk.

“If we hadn’t been able to use them, we would have gone really short. We went short as it was, but it meant we could get stuff for ourselves.”

Not only did it help the family out financially, it also became a community for Ickle while she was on maternity leave.

The warm welcome from grocery manager Sophia and volunteers helped her out on days when she was struggling.

She has also got to know many of her neighbours better through going to the grocery, and has been able to bring food she may not have got while shopping on a budget elsewhere.

As a result, son Kenobi has been able to try all kinds of new tastes, and Ickle knows she is also helping to reduce the “ridiculous” amount of perfectly good food going into landfill.

Now, Ickle is giving up her own time to help run the grocery, covering shifts when others are unavailable.

She is back at work and the family still receives Universal Credit, which also allows them to get help with the costs of childcare, enabling her to continue in the jobs she loves.

Her experiences have made her a passionate advocate of spreading the word about organisations like Resurrected Bites and being honest about how many people are relying on them.

She said:

“It’s the state of things now, and how much all the bills are going up is a massive worry to everybody.

“A lot of people are far too proud to say, especially in this town.

“I know my situation isn’t nearly as desperate as some others. I think the more people that talk about using places like these, the less people will be reluctant to use them.”

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.

Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal: ‘My life collapsed like a wicket’

This year’s Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal is for Resurrected Bites in Harrogate and Knaresborough. Today, Vicky meets a local man who is both a community grocery member and a café volunteer. Please give generously to support local people who are struggling this Christmas. They need your help.

The people who rely on Resurrected Bites are no different to anyone else. They have experiences, careers, aspirations and needs just as the rest of us do.

Sometimes, though, circumstances lead even the most conventional person down a road they never expected.

Justin Hardcastle tells his story.

“I worked in IT security recruitment as an account manager and lived in Harrogate most of my life. I’ve also lived in Leeds, London and Majorca, and in Austria for five years.

“In 2005, I found my mum hanging. I cut her down and gave her mouth-to-mouth and saved her life. Unfortunately, the oxygen deprivation left her with brain damage.

“In 2017, I found my brother dead in his flat. I couldn’t revive him.

“In 2019, I lost my grandma, who was a second mum to me. My mum worked two jobs and me and my brother lived with our grandparents.

“It was three bad experiences. If you look at cricket, you’ve got three stumps: the first was my mum, my brother was the second and the third was my grandma. It just all collapsed.”

Justin struggled on for a while, but his mental health declined. He had to stop working and he lost his home.

Friends helped out, including paying for hotel rooms to give him somewhere to stay. Justin said he was enormously grateful, but he needed long-term stability.

He was put in touch with Lifeline, a Christian charity providing secure places to live and support for people in crisis. It gave Justin a flat shared with two other men.

With somewhere safe to stay, Justin was pointed towards Resurrected Bites and became a member of the community grocery.

It took months for his benefit payments to start being made, but he was still able to access food supplies.

Gracious Street grocery manager Carolyn said:

“When the system goes wrong, it can leave you with literally nothing.

“We try to tell people if you’ve got nothing, don’t feel you can’t come. If you go from work onto universal credit, there’s a minimum five weeks’ wait.

“We always say we will do you voucher shops until your money’s back on course.

“That’s why we need more people to know about us. People need to know and not to be ashamed. There’s no judgement.”

Settled in at home and getting to know the team at Resurrected Bites, Justin decided six months ago to become more involved.

He volunteers every Thursday in the community grocery, as well as doing alternate Fridays in the kitchen of the pay-as-you-feel café.

His interest in food stems from his childhood, cooking with his grandmother and his brother, who went on to work in hospitality.

Some of the meals created for the Resurrected Bites cafe, created from ingredients that would otherwise be thrown away

He said:

“I love coming here. It gives me a purpose. Everyone is so friendly and I feel like I’m giving something back.

It’s heart-warming and beneficial for me, just to be part of a team and know I’m appreciated. I’m never late. I’m always early.

“You never know what you’re going to get. There was a week when we had crates of apples or strawberries or a ton of spring onions. You just never know and that’s what’s good. I’m not a chef, I just like cooking.

“From quite easily going to Sainsbury’s or Morrison’s and looking round and buying what you want to coming here, it makes you think more about food. You adapt to the situation and what you are going to get.

“It’s good for my mental health, I think, ‘what can I use, what can I make?’ it’s making me think and want to produce things differently that I wouldn’t have made.

“I feel like I contribute – I give as much as I can. Thinking about where I was, if it wasn’t for Resurrected Bites, Lifeline and my network of friends, I don’t know where I would be now.”

Having felt the benefit of Resurrected Bites in so many ways, Justin is determined to use his experience to help others.

He recognises just how easily things can change for anyone, as they did for him.

“When I worked in Leeds, I would quite happily go and have a coffee and a croissant for breakfast. Lunchtime, I’d go for a meal deal, and on an evening I might cook or have a take-away.

“That’s £15 a day. To go from that to having £3 for your weekly shop…

“I’ve changed my life and, going forward, I’m going to change my life. I want to feel I can support and help other people.

“I would like to share my experiences and possibly do something, whether it’s in volunteering or paid. I’ve got a lot to give and once I’m rehabilitated, I can show people what can happen.

“I can’t thank the organisations I’ve found and I’m part of enough. I’ve got a purpose. It’s a new start.”

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.

Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal: Making hearty meals from food waste

Like many people, Ian Booth’s job changed significantly when the covid pandemic began.

He had spent the previous year as manager of Resurrected Bites’ pay-as-you-feel café at St Mark’s Church.

In early 2020, along with the community interest company’s founder, Michelle Hayes, he had opened a new café at Gracious Street Methodist Church in Knaresborough and was in the process of launching another, at West Park United Reformed Church in Harrogate.

That March, they found themselves intercepting four tons of food waste each week and distributing it to people who were struggling.

Volunteers collected surplus food from supermarkets five days a week instead of two, and hospitality businesses forced to close their doors emptied their kitchens into vans and car boots.

Ian said:

“I wasn’t really anything like aware of the food poverty issue in the Harrogate area – not the scale of it. I realised people were going to be struggling, but not to this extent.

“As we were anticipating all this food waste, my immediate thought was to provide food to people who were struggling. Michelle had the same idea.

“We tapped into a huge food poverty issue in the area. We didn’t want to abandon that when the pandemic ended.

“That’s when we thought about adopting the community grocery model.”

Meanwhile, in 2021, Ian was back in the kitchen at the cafés, drawing on skills he had developed while living and working as a pastor at a church in France with his family.

“I’ve always enjoyed cooking – I do lots of it and in big quantities. We have five kids and we did so many church events.

“Because we’ve got a large family and always lived on a fairly low income, it’s a case of ‘see what’s cheap and make the most of it’.”

That experience is ideally suited to the demands of running the cafés, which take their ingredients from the Resurrected Bites warehouse.

Anything that can’t be sold in the community groceries will find its way onto the menus: catering packs of rice or chopped tomatoes, bacon, couscous, chickpeas, beef, potatoes, carrots… In late summer, a huge volume of apples arrived each week as people found their trees were producing more than they could use at home.

Ian said:

“I enjoy the creative bit – it can be very challenging. My mind starts whirring instantly about menus.

“We try and produce five main courses, a soup, a couple of desserts.”

When I visit Gracious Street Methodist Church one Friday lunchtime, roast beef and vegetables are on the menu.

It is delicious: hearty and warming on a cold day, a reminder of classic home cooking. Ian has exacting standards, though, and is constrained by what has arrived at the warehouse:

“We would normally never do roast beef without Yorkshire puddings, but we didn’t have any eggs.”

The tables are packed. Single people, pairs of friends, young families – they all share the space and make cheerful conversation as they order and eat.

The Gracious Street café is the busier of the two, I’m told, no doubt because it runs on the same day the community grocery is open in another room at the church. Knaresborough itself is a popular place to be on a Friday morning and some of the customers tell me they call in to the café after doing their shopping.

The cafés are not just aimed at people on tight budgets who might struggle to afford to eat out elsewhere, though.

Ian said:

“Often, people don’t come because they think it’s just for people who are struggling. We’re absolutely dependent on people who can afford to give generously.

“At the same time, it’s great when people come who can’t afford to, knowing that someone who is struggling has had a good hot meal.”

Many benefits

Ian is a passionate environmentalist – one of the reasons for his involvement in a project that aims to cut food waste.

He has been surprised by the many other benefits people get from Resurrected Bites. Not only does it support people to feed themselves and their families with dignity by paying for their shops, it also helps people who might have been struggling in other ways.

“Quite a number of people have come in and volunteered who have said, ‘this has been so good for my mental health’. It’s the sort of thing I wouldn’t have thought of.

“We had one guy who was helping with cooking. He was a good cook. He has gone on to work for a local charity, cooking for them. It’s brilliant.

“They asked me for a reference for him and I was able to say I couldn’t think of anybody better suited to this job. He has got that kind of compassionate heart.

“It’s great to have that experience and go on to use it in such a positive way.”

Resurrected Bites has close ties to local charities and organisations. There isn’t much that can’t be used in its cafes or community groceries, but when there is, it’s redirected to someone who can make use of it.

Volunteers helped to reopen Resurrected Bites’ cafes after covid

Approaching retirement in a couple of years, Ian is looking to cut down his hours at the cafes over the coming months.

At the same time, a new café is being planned in Killinghall. It means new volunteers and a new café manager will be needed – and Ian can only reflect on what a privilege it will be for those involved:

“I always think one of the best things about my job is the people I work with.

“We’re totally reliant on volunteers. The sort of people that volunteer are nice people, kind and caring, thinking of others.

“I just feel so blessed to have so many nice people to work with.”

Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal: ‘It’s our privilege to care for each other’

This year’s Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal is for Resurrected Bites in Harrogate and Knaresborough. Today, community grocery manager Carolyn Aitken tells us why working with people who rely on the groceries has been such an uplifting experience. Please give generously to support local people who are struggling this Christmas. They need your help.

When I took on the role of community grocery manager a year ago, I had never imagined what a privilege it would be.

That I would meet some of the most amazing people I’ve ever known, that this would be a role in which I would see such a broad spectrum of life and experience such a wide range of emotions, often all in one day.

From the heart-breaking revelation of a recently widowed wife or a bereaved parent, to the overwhelming kindness and generosity of a young couple who have given up their weekly takeaway to buy food to help others.

From the dad with a family to support, who lost everything including his home and business during the pandemic, or the beautiful young mother fighting long covid whilst caring for a newborn, to a group of elderly residents in shared accommodation giving a jar or packet or tin each week to help us to fill our shelves.

Volunteers who daily go above and beyond, collecting food from supermarkets late at night in all weathers or early mornings before most of us are awake, or who give up mornings or afternoons week after week to restock shelves and ensure everything’s displayed beautifully or to run the stores or cafes, always with a caring smile and a kind word for each customer.

We all wish we weren’t needed – everyone who plays a part in the life of Resurrected Bites agrees that there shouldn’t be the food waste that we collect each week – that we are a society that wilfully throws away perfectly good produce, because it’s not quite the right shape or size or has just passed its best, or there’s just been too much produced, and that such waste is wrong.

We agree that community groceries and foodbanks shouldn’t be needed in the UK in 2022, but we are moved by the needs of so many and so we try to make life just a little better for those in our community who are struggling.

Every day we wish we could do more – we can signpost our customers to other agencies and organisations who may also be able to help, with needs such as debt management, fuel vouchers, benefits advice or simply where to access clothes or furniture, but our hope is that one day, it won’t be like this.

That is the hope of our founder and director Michelle, who tirelessly works long hours, securing grants, arranging fundraisers, co-ordinating a plethora of supporters and volunteers, juggling a small team running the cafes, the community groceries, the pay-as-you-can tables and the warehouse. Resurrected Bites was her vision, one that was so inspirational that it has been caught by the communities of Harrogate and Knaresborough and grown into the amazing work it is today.

And it’s that word ‘community’ that shines out of all that we do and all that we’re a part of. Our tiny, beautiful corner of Yorkshire is incredibly community focused, people have told me that’s why they moved here to live.

As a community they care for one another, and as a community, it will be our privilege to continue to care for them, while we can.

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.

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.

Community grocery opens in Knaresborough to help people in need

A community grocery has opened in Knaresborough today to help people in need put food on the table.

Resurrected Bites, an organisation which battles food waste, is behind the new shop at Gracious Street Methodist Church.

It will be open on Tuesdays and Fridays between 9.30am and 3.30pm. The last people will be let in at 3pm.

It is the second community grocery set up by Resurrected Bites, which opened its first at New Park Community Hub in October.

Both operate in the same way. People who are struggling to make ends meet pay a small sum to become members an can then shop at the grocery.

It costs £5 a year to sign up as a member. You then pay £3, £6 or £9, depending on the size of your family, to shop for goods that would usually cost about £30 in supermarkets.

The majority of the food available would have gone to landfill but is too good to be wasted.

The stores have a wide range of tinned, fresh food and frozen food. They also stock toiletries, sanitary products and nappies in various sizes.

Carolyn Aitken, the grocery manager, said

“So many people are struggling with rising food and fuel prices on top of all of the cuts to people’s income.

“We want to ensure that everyone can afford to eat a healthy diet so please let people know about our service if you know they are struggling.”

Michelle Hayes, the founder of Resurrected Bites, said:

“We are really grateful to Gracious St Methodist Church for giving us this dedicated room in the church for us to run the grocery from.

“We partnered with the church initially in January 2020 when we started a pay as you feel community café there.

“This means that people who become members of the grocery, can also come in for a drink and something to eat when they come to do their shopping.”

Resurrected Bites will continue to run its café in the Bridge cafe at the centre on Gracious Street from 10 am until 2pm every Tuesday and Friday.

Harrogate mum who struggled to feed kids wants to break stigma

A single mum with four children from Harrogate has opened up about her experience of struggling to pay the bills to try and break the stigma around poverty.

Kayleigh Cooper lost her job manning the phones in the evenings at a taxi company early in the coronavirus pandemic.

So overnight, after never worrying about money, she started to wonder how she could afford her rising living costs while also feeding her children.

She gets Universal Credit and food vouchers but they have not been able to cover her costs.

Ms Cooper felt ashamed about her situation at first. But after reaching out for support, she now wants to let others know that they do not need to “suffer in silence” like she did. She said:

“I was really struggling to feed my children on a daily basis. A lot of people pretend they are doing alright, I have done it myself. But we need to talk about the issue otherwise it gets swept under the rug.

“For me I never had to worry about money before this. Since losing my job I have had to make those choices between paying the utility bills and buying food.

“It’s not just those without a job though, there are plenty of people with jobs who do not have enough money to live off too. Sometimes they struggle even more.

“My anxiety has been a lot worse. It really has had an impact on my mental health. However since reaching out for support I feel like I have had a weight taken off my shoulders.”

Reaching out for support at the new community grocery

A neighbour told Ms Cooper about the community grocery run by the Resurrected Bites team, which opened last month at New Park Primary Academy Community Hub.

She was hesitant at first but broke down in tears when she finally decided to go and ask for help.

People pay £5 a year to sign up as members and are then entitled to pay £3, £6 or £9 depending on the size of their family. The value of the items for the £3 shop would usually cost around £30.

She posted this picture online of a shop that cost her £9 to try and break the stigma.

It has a wide range of tinned, fresh food and frozen food. The shop also stocks toiletries, sanitary products and nappies in various sizes.

The shop, which can be found in one of the school’s separate buildings on West Street, just off Skipton Road, is open daily every Tuesday and Thursday between 9.30am and 3.30pm. Ms Cooper added:

“It has lightened me because I know even if I have £10 or £15 that week that I can go down to the community grocery and get meals for my children.

“I have used food banks in the past but I have had to pass things on because I won’t use it.

“So the beauty of it is that you get to choose what you take. They have everything you could need and the people there were so lovely.

“I wanted to post pictures so other people could see what they could get. I didn’t expect it but my post got a really positive response.”

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Many benefits

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Food waste

A big operation

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Reaching out for support at the new community grocery