The People’s Kitchen Great North Run Team are running to fund a new “corner shop “and more food parcels to help people try and combat the rising cost of living.
Around 25 volunteers and supporters of The People’s Kitchen, are setting out on the 13-mile run hoping to raise £5000 for the charity, the first time they have entered a team into the famous half marathon. With sponsorship of running vests from Northumbria Water and the places themselves being paid for by Jobling Purser, every single penny they raise will go towards making this new project a real success which will directly help some of Newcastle’s most vulnerable people.
Donations of food are essential to the ongoing work of The Kitchen and every tin, jar or fresh produce is put to good use, feeding up to 200 people per session. Sometimes however, a one-off jar, tin, or fresh garden produce just isn’t enough to be able to be used communally, so a unique new “corner shop” has been set up within The People’s Kitchen to help people combat the rising cost of living.
The contents are free for the “Friends” of The Kitchen to take away. Typically a PK bag will contain some bread, milk, cereal, butter, fresh fruit and veg and things you can eat without having access to proper, if any, cooking facilities.
Trustee of The People’s Kitchen, Maggie Pavlou is a seasoned GNR runner and is looking forward to the challenge of the race.
“Having our very own GNR team will hopefully raise enough money to help keep the “corner shop” stocked up and also allow us to continue a scheme we started in the summer which was to give away small ‘food parcels’ to families in need. We know that many people we help are really struggling to afford the costs of even heating food up and so we are trying to also provide food that can that can be cold or heated quickly with just a kettle or a microwave. It’s a serious situation that is affecting more and more people and not just those that we would say are “homeless.”
“The extra funding from our tremendous team of runners will help us keep both schemes going until Christmas and hopefully will help to reduce just a little of the financial stress that many people are facing right now.”
