Project Support
October 22, 2024
We donated £1,500 to Chance Changing Lives, a charity dedicated to supporting the homeless and vulnerable in Crewe.
Supporting the vulnerable community in Crewe and its surrounding neighbourhoods, the charity has a community supermarket that aids 160 families each week, and operates a Saturday kitchen that provides a hot, nutritious two-course meal for approximately 40 people each week.
We contributed to the services of the charity, close to our Sydney Place development, which went towards its social supermarket. This is for families suffering deep poverty, referred by a variety of sources including social workers, GP practices, schools, and health visitors. Families pay a membership fee of £4 per week, and they can do a ‘big’ shop to the value of £35 to £40 each week.
It has a full range of items including fresh fruit and vegetables, bread and frozen items, plus essential household cleaning products and toiletries. In addition to the food, the charity also encourages people to budget wisely and assists them with budgeting plans.
Sandra Link, Chair of Trustees at Chance Changing Lives, said: “All our services are powered by our unpaid band of 45 volunteers who generously spare their time, and we used over 7,000 volunteer hours last year. Consequently, our biggest cost is for food, and you can imagine how much food we need to buy to support 160 families and feed 40 hungry people each week.
“We have lots of experience of adults going without food to enable their children to eat. We also help retired couples who are too afraid to heat their homes, and supplied 50 hot water bottles during the colder weather, as well as woollen throws to help keep people warm.
“Some of our families will not use their ovens for fear of the cost and we have donated more than 70 slow cookers to enable our members to cook a hot nutritious meal.”
Offering more than food to the vulnerable community, Chance Changing Lives also has a partnership with Pennysmart, a financial agency that will negotiate repayment plans for the families. The charity also supports its families with access to school uniforms and shoes.
Sandra added: “Without support such as this, we literally could not exist. We rely entirely on donations and due to the increased cost of living, many of our individual donors have dried up, as they themselves are struggling. It’s companies that support us, and we need the help all the more because the demands for our services are growing.”
Claire Jarvis, Managing Director at David Wilson Homes North West, said: “We heard about the incredible services of Chance Changing Lives and wanted to offer our support, as it’s a valuable network for a number of vulnerable communities in Cheshire.
“It’s a privilege to donate £1,500 to the charity through our Community Fund scheme and we hope the support workers can continue to make such a wonderful difference to the lives of its beneficiaries.”
For more information on how to support the charity, visit the website at Chance Changing Lives.
