Since March the team at REfUSE have been busier than ever, doubling our food collections to 13 tonnes each month and redistributing to thousands of recipients. We’ve seen this increase matched by unprecedented demand amongst communities in County Durham. Increased unemployment, predicted to rise to 7.5% by the year’s end has meant that 1 in 5 children in the UK have gone hungry since the beginning of lockdown.Refuse was able to deliver over 30,000 meals to households around County Durham between March and August. Since opening as a Pay As You Feel shop in July we’ve been able to provide food for many more in a way that gives choice and dignity to those that are struggling. In October alone, we provided 1411 bags of shopping to over 3500 adults & children.
As a small organisation we’ve been flexible to the demands and restraints of Covid19, but after 10 months of providing emergency response to changing circumstances, we’re now planning how we can increase and sustain our provision for the years to come, learning from the rapid growth in activity and demand this year. Along with the need for food, we also expect to see a significant increase in demand for mental health support, and support needs for those who are unemployed. Before lockdown the café was able to provide confidence, training and a sense of belonging to those with barriers to employment, poor mental health or long term unemployment. In order to be able to provide this support for more people, in a safe and sustainable way, we’re planning a new building project which will triple the size of our kitchen. The project will also allow us to increase and improve our food storage so that we are better able to collect, sort and store food that comes in and make sure it gets to the right people.
We’d love your support in building Refuse to have a greater capacity and be more robust to future challenges. You can help us feed, support and equip communities in County Durham long into the future.