A community organisation in Harrogate that works to reduce food poverty and waste is gearing up to celebrate a major milestone.
Resurrected Bites, which aims to ‘fill bellies not bins’, has served almost 20,000 weekly food shops to low-income families since it started in 2021.
Its community grocery stores in Harrogate and Knaresborough offer an affordable way for people to access good quality, nutritious food.
And the sites, which are based in New Park Primary Academy in Harrogate and Gracious Street Methodist Church in Knaresborough, are opening their doors to welcome new members on 27th March.
Michelle Hayes, CEO of Resurrected Bites said:
“We’re delighted to have served almost 20,000 weekly food shops so far, but we’d love to be able to help more people which is why we’re opening our doors to everyone on 27th March, so they can find out more about what we do.
“Whether that’s members of the public, or referral agency staff who might be working with individuals or families who need some extra support, everyone is welcome.
“We’re here to help, not to judge, so we’d encourage anyone who’s interested in finding out more to pop in for a friendly chat.”
The Resurrected Bites grocery stores are not food banks where food is free and choice is limited.
They run through a subscription scheme and for a small, annual fee, members have access to the shop, can select the items they want just like in a normal shop or supermarket, but only pay a fraction of the price.
Michelle said:
"The perception is that Harrogate and Knaresborough are affluent places, so there can’t be a need for initiatives like community groceries, but that’s simply not true.
“In the Harrogate district, research shows that one in five children are living in poverty, which means that almost 6,000 children here are growing up in a household that may not be able to afford enough to eat.
“Since we started the community groceries we’ve seen a growing number of people facing food poverty, many who are working but just can’t make ends meet.
“And this problem looks set to get worse as council tax, water and energy bills increase significantly from April.”
Resurrected Bites has additional capacity to support more people who are struggling financially.
It's hosting an open day at New Park grocery from 11am-3pm on Thursday 27th March to raise awareness about its services and encourage people to come along and sign up to the scheme.
A customer said:
“I’ve been shopping at the Resurrected Bites community groceries for the last couple of years and it’s made a real difference to me and my family.
“It’s a lifeline if you’re on a tight budget, it gives you a bit of breathing space.
“At first, I was a bit nervous about coming because I thought people would judge me, but everyone was so friendly and welcoming and I was treated with dignity and respect.
“It’s about so much more than just food – it’s about community, friendship and support which are just as valuable to me as the food that I buy.”
As well as offering an affordable way for people to buy food and other household items, the community groceries also reduce waste by using surplus food from supermarkets and other suppliers that might otherwise end up in landfill.
Much of the food is donated because of over-supply issues or because it is close to its ‘best before’ date, so everything sold is completely safe.
In a six-month period last year, Resurrected Bites, which also offers wraparound support services including budgeting advice, a work club, cookery courses, and three ‘pay as you can’ community cafes each week, prevented 56 metric tonnes (the equivalent weight of 4 adult male elephants) of good quality food from going into landfill, in keeping with its mission to ‘fill bellies not bins’.
To find out more about Resurrected Bites Harrogate, email newparkgrocery@resurrectedbites.co.uk or call 07835 354810.
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