Food Support: UAA Community Food Larder
Affordable food support with dignity, cultural understanding and choice
UAA now provides its regular food support through the UAA Community Food Larder. The larder helps individuals and families facing financial pressure access good-value groceries, including culturally familiar foods alongside everyday essentials. The aim is to help households stretch limited budgets while maintaining dignity, choice and a sense of contribution.
UAA Community Food Larder
The Food Larder is UAA’s current food-support service. It is designed for people and families who are struggling with the cost of food but who may need support for more than a short emergency period. People hear about the service through community networks, partner organisations, referrals and word of mouth.
The Food Larder is also an important point of contact with the wider work of UAA. A conversation when someone comes for food can reveal other pressures such as housing problems, unemployment, domestic abuse, immigration-related difficulties, poor health or isolation. Where appropriate, UAA can then provide practical support, advocacy or a referral to a specialist service.
| Community venue | Leicester Street Community Centre, Northampton, NN1 3RS |
CURRENT EVIDENCE 152 affordable food-larder parcels were provided in August. |
How the Food Larder works
People using the Food Larder make a small contribution towards a bag of groceries worth considerably more than the amount they pay. This allows households to save money on essential food costs while also helping UAA keep the service sustainable and available to more people.
The contents vary according to availability, but UAA aims to include useful everyday groceries and culturally familiar foods that people will actually cook and eat. Feedback from families has shown that items such as rice, maize meal, fufu products, cooking oil and other familiar staples can make the larder particularly useful to African households.
A food-larder parcel worth around £20 is provided for a £5 contribution.
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If the normal contribution is difficult for you because you are in severe financial hardship, contact UAA before attending so that we can discuss your circumstances and any support or referral options that may be available.
A family moving from crisis to contribution
One father of five was struggling to maintain two households while his wife was on maternity leave and the family had NRPF. UAA helped the family relocate to Northampton, supported them with food while they were living on one income and helped the father access a Level 3 care-course bursary. Today both parents are working. They are now able to contribute towards their food through the larder and have become people who cook for UAA’s community lunches.
GET FOOD SUPPORT | COMMUNITY LUNCH | WELFARE SUPPORT