MCR South-Central Foodbank Collection

We have signed up to help out at a foodbank donation day at the big Tesco Extra on Chester Road in Stretford to engage the general public to collect food donations for the winter rush for Manchester Souht-Central. We have done foodbank runs for them before and they are a pro-active group trying to help local people.

We will be handing out leaflets, advising on the best items to donate, and raising awareness about the foodbank and how people can help. All this while collecting donations, thanking the public, and sorting the donations ready to go back to the foodbank for distribution.

The Tesco is on Chester Road, What3Words location is ///hidden.prom.become. We will either do a 10am-1pm shift or 1-4pm shift so please comment below on which you would prefer.

From the MCR South-Central website and why they need our help!

Imagine not knowing if you’ll be able to feed your children this week. That’s the reality for thousands of families in Manchester right now. The cost-of-living crisis has brought unimaginable hardship. Poverty is now at alarming levels. 37% of children in Greater Manchester, and 44.7% of children in Manchester itself, are classed as living in poverty. 1 in 4 parents (25%) struggled to provide sufficient food for their child in the last 12 months, up from 1 in 5 parents (20%) in October 2022.

In recent years, real wages have fallen and living costs have soared, while cuts to social security support have meant the system is providing less. Meanwhile, poverty levels are deepening - nearly four million people experienced destitution in 2022 – an extraordinary 148% increase over just five years.

At Bridging the Gap we are seeing this hardship reflected in the demand for our services. In 2024 we:

• saw a 12% increase in individuals accessing our foodbank
• had to purchase 23.98% of our foodbank stock at a value of £35,349.12, as food donations failed to meet demand
• supported 363 more children during the year with holiday hunger parcels

About GoodGym

We're a friendly and social group who combine exercise with helping out in the local community. We meet every week to get active and do a physical task to help the charities and community organisations and projects across the Manchester region.