A growing Norfolk Food Network, which has been a lifeline for 15,000 people during the cost of living crisis, expects to help another 10,000 in the coming months.
Nourishing Norfolk was founded to provide affordable food to those in need, lifting people out of poverty while strengthening communities.
It is led by the Norfolk Community Foundation, which organized an event at St James Mill, Whitefriars in Norwich, for partners, volunteers and supporters to celebrate the rapid acceleration of the project over the past seven months.
Last May, she developed five community food hubs, including the Burrell Shop pilot project in Thetford, which opened in 2020.
Now it supports a network of 15 independent hubs in cities and towns across the county, helping around 15,000 people shop on a budget about half the cost of regular supermarkets.
But Claire Cullens, chief executive of the Norfolk Community Foundation, said “we’re just getting started” – with plans to expand the network to 25 food centers by June, while it plans to support 20,000 at 25 000 people.
As demand increases and many families still struggle to afford the rising cost of basic meals, she said the project also needs to continue to drive down the cost of food, find more food suppliers and refine its distribution links.
“When it started with a pilot in Thetford just over two years ago, we wondered if it was possible to bring people together – farmers, food producers, volunteers – and find a way to produce and creating a food opportunity for people who were really struggling,” she says.
“Very quickly we realized that absolutely it was possible and more importantly it was scalable and it gave us the opportunity to support communities in Norfolk.
“Each of these food hubs is individual – created and owned by the community they are in. We are so proud to have worked with the people who created them.
“We have also developed local and national food partnerships, set up a food warehouse and developed a distribution pilot that transports food from farm to hub and fork.
“We started with food, but the opportunity in Noursihing Norfolk is so much bigger than food. We have learned through our food centers that we can really help people lift themselves out of poverty.”
She also paid tribute to key partners including Feeding Britain, community volunteers and managers, businesses and councils, the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association, Norse Group and the Norfolk Community Foundation and its trustees.
David Hill, Norfolk’s High Sheriff, and Simon Bailey, chairman of the Norfolk Community Foundation trustees, also spoke at the event, which praised the “inspirational leadership” of its chief executive – and agreed that the job was far from over.
“We still have a long, long way to go,” he said.
“We need to keep bringing the price of food down, we need to get our logistics in place and we need to get full services where we all want them. If we can achieve that then we will have created something incredibly special. .
“To be able to say, with real sincerity, that this is not happening in any other part of the country, and that we have other countries watching what is happening in Norfolk, is something we should all be incredibly proud of.”
Victoria Lewis, whose family is a sharecropper on the Sandringham estate, is supply and logistics manager for Nourishing Norfolk. She urged farmers and food suppliers to get involved in the project.
“We want to build an alliance between the farming community and the Nourishing Norfolk Project,” she said.
“If you have a surplus of food because you have reached your quota, contact us, as we can put you in touch with local centers or perhaps we can do a bulk delivery to one of these places. .
“It’s an opportunity to make a huge difference, to reach a local market and organizations that want to be able to promote local and seasonal produce. You also have the opportunity to reduce food miles and food waste.”
For more information about Nourishing Norfolk, see www.norfolkfoundation.com.
‘OVERWHELMING’ DEMAND AT NORWICH HUB
One of the Nourishing Norfolk Network hubs has seen “overwhelming” demand in recent months, with more than 100 people a day looking for affordable food.
The Feed social supermarket on Hall Road in Norwich, which launched in July, is open to anyone in areas NR1, NR2 and NR4, with no means test applied around income or benefits.
Program development manager Andrea Auburn said initial research estimated 300 members would enroll in the first year, but added: “Then the cost of living crisis hit and in our first month , we had 800 members.
“Now we are seven months away and we have 1,900 households registered to use our store, which is around 4,500 people.
“We see 100 people every day. It’s very high demand and sometimes it’s quite overwhelming.
“People who work full time in jobs like health care or nursing are coming in who need our services because they have nothing in the closet.
“We see people shopping with us on budgets of £5 a week for groceries, and that’s just not feasible. Parents are giving up their meals so their children can eat, which doesn’t is not acceptable.
“This cost of living crisis has changed the image of poverty, and that’s why we didn’t want to put in place criteria that would stop people who were about to need help. It is a service for everyone.
“People tell us it’s a lifesaver, and that they wouldn’t survive if they couldn’t come to our store, so I can’t stress enough how important that is. It also gives them a sense of community they never had before.”
This added value is embodied in the executive assistant Mally Berry, 40, who was first a client before becoming a volunteer and then an employee.
“It helped me in so many ways,” he said.
“I was going through a divorce and was then homeless. It helped me feed myself on a very small budget and then a job, which made me feel better about myself and about my depression.
“The most rewarding thing now is helping people in a similar situation. I can show them that it can work, that it can get better. It’s great to be able to play a part in that.”
