Christ Church CE Academy have been a community food member with FareShare Yorkshire since November 2019. They run a weekly food bank with the food that they receive, which is open for all parents of children who attend the school. As a school, they believe that their role is to serve their community and the ‘Food Store’ provides them with a concrete way to do that.

From fruit and vegetables, to cheeses and meat, the school receive a mixture of different food items, as well as being signed up to our frozen provision.

“During the lockdowns, when our school was partially open to vulnerable and key worker children, we were able to keep our Food Store open.” says Michala Uttley, Deputy Head of Christ Church CE Academy. “This enabled us to keep in touch with our families and we often had a chat about unusual food items and the best way to cook them.

“For us, our partnership with FareShare Yorkshire enables us to support our families. A special mention goes to Paul, our delivery driver, who always has a friendly smile on his face. The team went above and beyond in offering us collections during the Covid-19 pandemic to help us with ambient goods. It ensured our families could see over the Winter months and the times when they just needed a little extra.”

We have also been sent some wonderful feedback from families who receive the food.

• “It is a Godsend. We turn the items into full meals for the family, I don’t know what we’d do without it.”
• “It really helps. We eat food that we wouldn’t normally eat and I’ve found that I can make full meals for the family, including puddings.”
• “It’s amazing and it has really helped us, especially during lockdown where children were eating all day. It’s meant we haven’t gone hungry.”
• It is fantastic, it means I can feed all my family. I have a lot of people to feed at home and I know that I will be able to get a bag of rice or pasta that will feed us all.”
• “It takes away some worry about feeding your family when money is short.”