A Redditch mum-of-two and her team of volunteers are helping families survive the cost-of-living crisis thanks to their community café.
Elaine Grant is the CEO of the Old Needle Works Foundation charity, which runs the eatery offering free hot meals and a warm space to people struggling with rising costs.
The café was started after the team noticed the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on mental health and wanted to make a difference in the community.
Ms Grant said: “People now being affected by food poverty are not necessarily just people on benefits, it’s far more diverse than that. Some are working parents who are just struggling with the increasing costs of food.
“The café has been a huge success welcoming many people through the doors since it opened from children to people in their 80s and 90s. There’s nothing quite like this in the area.
“We get a lot of families dropping in. Many parents tell us that when the money gets short, they can struggle to buy food.
“All our food is nutritious and freshly cooked. We use no processed food, so parents and children can come along and enjoy a hot meal and also take home a bag of fresh fruit or veg.”
The café and warm hub, which was funded through a £21,341 grant from the Severn Trent Community Fund, has food supplied by local supermarkets that would otherwise have gone to waste.
The grant has also provided investment for a wellbeing coordinator to help run the facilities alongside a dedicated team of staff and volunteers.
The café and warm hub is open Monday to Friday every week with the wellbeing coordinator also arranging group social events including a book club and writing groups.
Ms Grant said: “The café wouldn’t have happened without the Severn Trent grant as we needed a wellbeing co-ordinator to help make it happen.
“The success is also because of the kind and compassionate staff and volunteers that we can do what we do. There’s a lot of stuff that goes on out of hours.
“Some people arrive here in distress, that can be very hard, especially when children are involved. We work with adults in all sorts of complex situations, and they tell us we have been a lifeline.
“We get a massive sense of purpose from what we do, we are all very passionate about it.”
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