Resurrected Bites ask for community street collection points to be setup as the demand for food increases

13 November 2020

Resurrected Bites is continuing to support families across Harrogate, Knaresborough and Ripon with food parcels.

The demand has nearly doubled between September and October 2020.

  • Currently helping 240 households
  • Distributing around 3-5 tons of food each week
  • With the support of a team of 66 volunteers

People can contact them directly if they are having trouble providing food for themselves or their family.

They source food and grocery items from public donations and direct-deliveries from warehouses, where products may have been damaged or don’t have sufficient shelf life.

Michelle Hayes is a director and hands-on manager of the service that is based at the Gracious Street Church in Knaresborough.

Michelle Hayes said:

Between 18 March 2020 up until  6 November 2020 our amazing team have processed 3006 orders.

Each of those orders has provided at least 3 days worth of food to 5023 adults and 3223 children

That works out at around 25,000 meals we have provided.

Right now we have have 240 households registered with us, so we are getting through around 3-5 tonnes of food a week.

If you need help please contact resbitesdelivery@gmail.com or phone 01423 593937

Catherine Crompton is now leading on managing food donations.

Catherine said:

Given the increase in workload, Michelle has now handed over the management of food donations to me.

Simply speaking, we need to increase the amount of food we receive as we are not anticipating the demand to drop in the near future.

One method that we have already started is to have one house as a collection point on a street.

More often these days each street has its own community Facebook page or WhatsApp group, and all we are asking is for one household to be the collection point for that street – we think the easier it is made to drop off food, the more people will be do it.

We have a newly launched drop-off point on Yewdale road and within 48 hours it has received 15 bags of groceries. That donation point was setup by one of our existing volunteers, who will now collects the items and brings  them to Gracious street.

Donations can be any items you would keep in your cupboard at home. The donation house on each street could change each week if it shares the workload, or people knocking at your door!

The group has been responded to the demand, but now needs to get a little ahead of the game.

Sarah Griffin and Sophia Clarke on Yewdale road in Harrogate
Sarah Griffin and Sophia Clarke on Yewdale road in Harrogate

Street Drop-off points

  • A designated drop-off point on a street
  • You just need to receive and temporarily store groceries
  • You can either drop them off at Gracious Street or we can arrange for pickup

If you have a donation that needs picking up, please email resbitesdonations@gmail.com

Catherine said:

We often get asked, what do we need or what are we short of.

We already using Facebook and Instagram and we will continue to provide updates on what we are doing, and crucially to us, any items we are particularly short of.

If you have seen inside our Gracious Street base you may have see mounds of food, but the reality is most of it will be gone within  a few days – really as quickly as it comes in, it goes out.

So we are asking for people to do a few things, continue donating food, consider setting up a collection point for your street and to follow us on social media.

If you were to meet any of the people that are receiving our support, you would realise how important this service is to them.

Resurrected Bites on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/resurrectedbites

Resurrected Bites on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/resbites/

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