The Wellspring Kitchen (Stockport)

 
How The Kitchen started

The Kitchen was started in 1990 by 11 Roman Catholic churches, to provide the unemployed and the needy with a place to eat.  They are now a fully independent registered charity.  With the help of 150 volunteers, they provide about 33,000 meals per year: up to 130 per day.  The bulk of the tinned foods needed are received at Harvest Thanksgiving time.

The Wellspring is defined as 'The Fountain of Life, the Ever Flowing Fountain'.  The Wellspring Kitchen provides a warm, secure and comfortable environment where people can have nourishing meals, hot showers (the only public shower in Stockport), a shave, change of clothes, blankets and a place to access information about services such as housing and health care.  They offer an ‘Open Door’ policy with a non-judgemental approach to all visitors. 

Wellspring Church in Congleton have an alliance with their namesakes in Stockport, The Wellspring Kitchen, to whom Harvest Thanksgiving foods are given.

What The Kitchen provides

The Kitchen is open 365 days of the year, from 11.30 am to 2pm and, on Mondays to Thursdays, from 6.30 pm to 8pm.  Those who visit the kitchen are the homeless, people living in B&B’s, the lonely, and those in need of companionship, acceptance, respect, dignity and TLC.  Visitors come from around Stockport, plus Bury, Eccles, Ashton and Manchester.

Where it all comes from

The Kitchen serves soup and sandwiches at lunch-time and a cooked meal in the evening.  It has had 22 tonnes of tinned food donated at harvest time.  This would fill 216 supermarket trolleys and, if stacked on top of one another, would reach a height of 1½ miles.  But another 100 trolleys could be filled with the bread, milk, margarine and cheese bought with the house-keeping budget of £500 per month.

For a small registration fee to an organisation called ‘Fairshare’, The Kitchen receives a range of foods which are nearing the end of their shelf life.  These foods are donated to ‘Fairshare’ by Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury, Asda, the Co-op and others.

There are 150 volunteers with a range of skills who give their time to preparing and serving food, fundraising, giving talks to interested parties, house-keeping, PR and essential maintenance tasks. 

Fund Raising

Fund raising is necessary on two fronts: the day-to-day housekeeping and, equally important, the provision of improved premises within Stockport town centre.  The main fund raising events are the Christmas Concert held at the Plaza Theatre each year during the first week of December. Quiz nights have been held, with the generous support of Stockport Grammar School, hosted by Gordon Burns of BBC News Northwest, who is one of The Kitchen's Patrons. 

The Kitchen has received generous donations from the Mayor of Stockport’s Fund. It cannot exist, however, without the hundreds of smaller events organised by individual supporters.

At Christmas time it is given generous support by national companies, for example the John Lewis Partnership and Marks & Spencer, who provide vouchers which can be redeemed in their stores on behalf of The Kitchen's visitors.

What of the future?

In the future, Wellspring Kitchen hope to be able to offer continued support to people in need, better facilities within a larger building, opportunities for volunteers and visitors to develop their skills, and allowing visitors better access to help and information.

Meanwhile, it is continuing to meet the needs of its visitors thanks to the generosity of people like Wellspring Church, Congleton, and the Borough of Stockport.

 
Victims

When you get back to home today,
To cosy house and cosy bed,
Please think of us: 
Unloved, unfed.

For some of us it’s our own fault, 
We're sorry now, but all too late!
We find our folks just won’t forgive, 
So, can we not avoid our fate?

We don't all choose our life on street,
Cold, wet and hungry, ill-shod feet.
Each life may differ, but none can win,
Please know our hurt: be in our skin.

When next you meet us, be aware,
Do see our faces: the person there.
Think to yourself as you rush by,
There, but for the grace of God, go I.
 

     
If you want to help The Kitchen or to know more, please contact them at Tatton St, Stockport, Greater Manchester.  Or if you live in or near Congleton you can contact Wellspring Church in Dane and Trent Methodist Circuit.