Bringing Bread and Butter to Darlington
First The Bread and Butter Thing service in North East, helping at least 450 families a week by the end of 2020
Weekly service launching on 25th March at Corporation Road Community Primary School with five hubs in operation by the end of 2020
TBBT is working with local partners in Darlington to bring its innovative, sustainable service to the town by providing good quality food for a fraction of its usual price. Funded through a three-way partnership between Cummins, Darlington Building Society and Darlington Borough Council, the first hub to open will be Corporation Road Community Primary School on 25th March.
The Darlington scheme will grow to take place every week at a variety of community spaces across the town including schools, community centres and churches centred in areas of greatest need in the borough. For just £7.50, TBBT members’ shopping bags are filled with a minimum of £35 worth of items made up of quality fresh food and store cupboard staples from supermarkets.
This new partnership is the first TBBT service outside Greater Manchester. As well as distributing much needed food, the scheme creates a useful point of contact for members to get help and advice, with partner hubs running a range of services alongside the weekly food collections. Corporation Road Community Primary already have big plans for the scheme.
Ann Pringleton, Head teacher at Corporation Road Community Primary School said: "Bringing The Bread and Butter Thing to Corporation Road will have a transformative effect on our children and their families, as well as the extended local community. We also want to use this opportunity to build our local community connections - our older pupils will help run a delivery scheme to elderly people who find it difficult to leave their homes, we're planning cookery lessons with parents as well as projects around the environmental impact of food surplus."
Councillor Jonathan Dulston, Cabinet Member – Stronger Communities for Darlington Borough Council said: “TBBT have a brilliant track record in transforming local communities through their affordable food initiative and we are delighted to be bringing the charity's work to the heart of Darlington. We are aware that access to affordable high quality is a serious issue for many local people, so we've teamed up with TBBT to make a positive difference to those in greatest need."Mark Game, TBBT Chief Executive added: "The financial savings for people using our service are significant, people eat better quality and a bigger variety of food, and we save tonnes of surplus edible food from going to waste. It's a win/win solution for everyone and we're looking forward to seeing our partnership develop in Darlington and across the North East, improving the lives of more and more people.”