The Riverside Foundation – our Group charity – has donated £250,000 to support customers facing food poverty.
Our Cost-of-Living survey, carried out in late 2022, exposed worrying evidence about the extent of hardship being experienced by customers due to rising food prices, energy costs and more.
So, Foundation trustees felt they had to act promptly to provide some measure of support, providing the funding just before Christmas 2022.
The Riverside Foundation Chair, Mark Cullinan said: “We’re delighted to be able to provide £250,000 to support 33 food charities, across the areas where most of our Riverside and One Housing customers live, enabling them to purchase essential food provisions for households facing food poverty.”
The organisations receiving funding are:
- Our House Walton Community Hub
- Community shop, Liverpool, L4
- New Beginnings Improving Lives CIC, Liverpool, L6
- North Liverpool Foodbank, St Andrews Community Network
- Netherley Youth & Community Centre
- Four Estates Ltd, Runcorn
- Citizens Supermarket Feeding Britain, Wirral
- Wirral foodbank
- South Sefton Foodbank, St Leonards Youth and Community Centre
- Torrington Drive Community Association, Liverpool, L26
- St Helens Foodbank The Hope Centre
- Leicester South Foodbank
- Botcherby Community Centre, Carlisle
- Oasis Food Pantry, Cumbria
- Petteril Bank, Fareshare Community, Cumbria
- Longtown pop up parish, Cumbria
- Harraby campus pop up shop, Cumbria
- St Lukes & St Barnabas, Cumbria
- The Oval
- South Tyneside Foodbank (Hope & Hospitality)
- Bowlee Pavillion Food Pantry, Bowlee Community Organisation, Langley
- Community Store St Johns Church
- Great Barr Foodbank (Sandwell)
- Newcastle West End Foodbank
- Neighbours in Poplar
- St Lukes Food Bank, London, E14
- First Love Foundation, London, E14
- London Soup Kitchen, Tottenham Court road, London, W1T
- Castlehaven Food Bank, London, NW1
- Camden Foodbank, London, NW1
- Newham District Foodbank (Ascension Community Trust), London, E16
- North Ayrshire Foodbank
- The Mustard Tree, Ancoats, Manchester
Sharon Williams, Project Manager at Netherley Youth & Community Initiative said: “The £10,000 will be so helpful is supporting our food Pantry thanks again really do appreciate your financial support it really will make a difference to our families in the community”
Reverend Andrew Silley of St John’s Church, Bransholme, said: “It really is a massive help and will enable us to develop the work of the Community Store at this time.”
And Alexander Brown, Director of The Soup Kitchen, said: “We’re supporting more people daily now than at any point in our 37-year history and many of our newer guests are pensioners struggling with the cost of living; it’s absolutely devastating to see.
“On behalf of the many hundreds of people we support each week and our entire organisation, a very sincere thank you from the Soup Kitchen.”
About the Riverside Foundation
The Riverside Foundation, funds projects and initiatives benefitting the communities in which we work, including Money Advice, Affordable Warmth, Employment and Training and the Housing Sustainment Service.
It also provides funding for our £500K Helping Hand Fund designed to help customers in need and the £250K Community Fund which provides grants for community projects.
It has been able to increase its activities to support customers following the new partnership between Riverside and One Housing.
Through that partnership, the Group committed £2.5m a year to improve the livelihoods of customers and build stronger communities.