{"id":17300,"date":"2019-02-13T10:47:41","date_gmt":"2019-02-13T10:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=17300"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:57:42","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:57:42","slug":"unite-community-more-than-just-a-packed-lunch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=17300","title":{"rendered":"More than just a packed lunch"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

In part 3 of our Heart Unions series, we catch up with the Unite Community Norfolk branch, which over the summer, took matters into their own hands to tackle holiday hunger in the face of austerity.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mary, mother of three children ages 7,5 and 2, has little faith in the social safety net that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s supposed to support her and her family.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe Job Centre just isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t interested in helping someone like me,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she says. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI left school at 16; I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have any qualifications. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m 25 now and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got nothing on my CV.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But her friend Molly says a job, even a full-time one, doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t guarantee her family\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most basic expenses will be met. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bMy husband works over 40 hours a week,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Molly, mother of two children aged 8 and 10, explains. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI still have to skip meals to make sure my kids are okay.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mary and Molly joined dozens of parents and their children who dropped in at St. Catherine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Church in Norwich to pick up free packed lunches \u00e2\u20ac\u201c provided by the local Unite Community branch \u00e2\u20ac\u201c over the summer school holidays last year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t alone in struggling. A report last year from the All Parliamentary Group on Hunger estimated that the loss of free school meals in the summer adds up to \u00c2\u014140 a week to a family\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s outgoings.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For a city like Norwich \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a place of apparent wealth juxtaposed with pockets of shocking deprivation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c this is no mere figure in a government report. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lived reality for the majority of households in some areas \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 80 per cent of children in Mile Cross, a ward in Norwich, are on free school meals, compared to a national average of 14 per cent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And while so many children in Norwich and across the nation face the spectre of holiday hunger, supermarkets and other retail outlets waste about 4.3 metric tonnes of food each year.<\/p>\n

\"Brian

Brian Green, Unite Community Norfolk branch secretary<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s this glaring disparity between not enough on the one hand and far too much on the other that got the Unite Community Norfolk branch and others groups in the city thinking. Brian Green, (pictured) Unite Community Norfolk branch secretary, took up the cause of tackling food waste in Norwich three years ago, when he was part of the Norwich Claimants Union, which later merged into the local Unite Community Branch.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The group protested outside local supermarkets such as Marks & Spencer every week for over a year in an attempt to convince these enormously profitable retail giants to donate the surplus food they wasted. Marks & Spencer eventually caved in and others such as Tesco soon followed suit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Norwich FoodHub was then set up to centralise and distribute donations from supermarkets to various local groups in need such as food banks.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMuch of what you see here today we got from Tesco through FoodHub,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Brian says as he butters a piece of bread and assembles a sandwich.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Unite Community free lunches project, which launched in July, has given over 500 lunches to children aged 16 and under\u00c2\u00a0last summer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The lunches were handed out on a first-come, first-serve basis \u00e2\u20ac\u201c with no questions asked as long as children were accompanied by an adult \u00e2\u20ac\u201c between 12 and 1 pm every week day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The project was so successful the branch undertook a similar project over Christmas \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a time of the year when struggling families often experience the greatest hardship.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In conjunction with the local Phoenix Community Centre, Unite Community\u00c2\u00a0opened a caf\u0102\u00a9 for one week before and after Christmas. Local families\u00c2\u00a0were invited and offered a free two-course self-service meal. Both a meat and vegetarian option\u00c2\u00a0were provided as\u00c2\u00a0were unlimited teas, coffees and hot chocolate for children.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe best thing about our projects is that they show what we can accomplish when we organise, build links with the community and come together,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Brian notes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Their work, after all, is the brainchild of no one person in particular \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the result of various groups working together, from FoodHub and Unite Community to the local school, the church, the community centre, and the city\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Labour councillors.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more than just a packed lunch that the Unite Community volunteers offered over the summer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Solidarity\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur motto is \u00e2\u20ac\u0098solidarity not charity\u00e2\u20ac\u2122,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 explains Unite Community branch chair Geraldine Murray (pictured). \u00e2\u20ac\u015bSome of the families who come here open up about the struggles they face at home, in work, with the benefits system. We try our best to offer advice.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

\"Unite

Unite Community Norfolk branch chair Geraldine Murray<\/p><\/div>\n

Geraldine says a widespread fear is the introduction of Universal Credit, which begun its roll-out in the area in October. The welfare reform, which rolls six benefits into one, was introduced just up the road in Yarmouth two years ago, where it has precipitated untold suffering.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bGiving out packed lunches should only be a temporary measure \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly not the answer \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but beyond making sure these children don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go without, it provides us with an opportunity to discuss the issues,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Geraldine adds.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe summer project earned us a great deal of respect in the community,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Brian notes.\u00c2\u00a0 “At the heart of our campaign now is tackling Universal Credit by \u00e2\u20ac\u0098preparing the resistance and providing the assistance\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite Community national coordinator Liane Groves hailed the Norfolk branch\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s campaign to tackle holiday hunger.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is exactly what Unite Community is all about \u00e2\u20ac\u201c empowering communities through solidarity and grassroots campaigning that makes a real difference to people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lives,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAs the Universal Credit roll-out continues, projects like these will be all the more vital.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Child poverty and holiday hunger are problems cynically engineered by this government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cruel policies \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to be this way, and we at Unite Community are dedicated to making sure it isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  • Pics by Peter Smith<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In part 3 of our Heart Unions series, we catch up with the Unite Community Norfolk branch, which over the summer, took matters into their own hands to tackle holiday hunger in the face of austerity.   Mary, mother of three children ages 7,5 and 2, has little faith in the social safety net that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16033,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[480,483,1004,818,232],"wps_subtitle":"Unite Community heroes feed 500 with free food","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17300"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17300"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25540,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17300\/revisions\/25540"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}