Telford community centre helps thousands with weekly food and activity packs
A community centre in Telford has been dishing out thousands of packs to support vulnerable people throughout lockdown.
Volunteers and staff at Park Lane Centre in Woodside have created activity packs for children and adults, food parcels and recipe packs,
The service has proved so popular, applications for the next instalment of 360 activity packs sold out within the first two hours of being available.
Working in partnership with numerous organisations including Challenging Perceptions, centre manager Jacqui Idiens said the "immense" demand has shown a clear need for support.
She said: "At the start of lockdown we were getting messages from people and groups saying they were struggling, so we created activity and wellbeing packs. So far we've given out 4,155 and we've got them for children, youths and adults in isolation.
"We've also been giving out breakfast packs and recipe packs for the summer so families can cook healthy meals, as well as information about how they can get out and about and stay active."
With additional social and financial pressures facing families as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Jacqui said the initiative has proved priceless within the Woodside community.
"We've done surveys and around 64.9 per cent of people said having these packs each week had significantly improved their mental health," she said.
"This provides continuity and something to look forward to. We're very lucky to have secured the funding for this."
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The Staffordshire Foundation's Covid-19 emergency fund has contributed towards the scheme, as well as Children in Need and Telford & Wrekin Council.
"The uptake is immense," added Jacqui.
"Obviously thing have changed a lot and we're still delivering services such as signposting as best we can. We've also donated our halls to the Food Share Project as one of the major issues here is feeding people."
Having taken up a lease at the centre in February, Food Share started as a project allowing those in need to visit the centre for food, and has since grown into a service using refrigerated vans delivering meals to vulnerable people throughout the borough.
Up until June, the service had delivered more than 200,000 meals and helped more than 40,000 people.
