Author: emmelinespantry1

Inclusivity and respect are at the heart of Emmeline’s core values, which is why we absolutely love Pride. To celebrate the diversity of our supporters, clients and local community, we held our own Pride event which was an amazing success. Open to all, we got to meet many local residents as well as long serving volunteers and supporters.

It was a fantastic celebration of music too, with performances by DJ Nickie B and Choirs Manchester, with 3 dance performances by House of Ghetto dancer Kaan.

Thanks to our table top sale, food stalls and generous donations, we managed to raise an amazing £530! Younis, our colourful mascot oversaw proceedings and we hope she’ll make an appearance at our next event.

Thankyou so much for all you do for my family. After a stressful day it was so lovely to come home and be able make a a simple but delicious dinner. I got all the ingredients from the foodbank (Bag of chopped vegetable soup mix, red lentils, chunky bread and even the soup bowl.) I can assure you it was enjoyed by us all, there’s even enough left over for lunches tomorrow. 

We are holding a Christmas event on the 19th of November

Tickets available from Eventbrite

That’s right, we’ve only just recovered from last year and we start planning for Christmas. Once the children have gone back to school after their summer holidays mums start to worry about Christmas and workers start to refer. Each year we seem to start planning a little earlier due to the increase in service users

No child should go without a gifts and this year we are determined to make sure that each of our families has a wonderful Christmas.

So how can you help? We rely on donations for our Christmas appeal. Each month in the run up to Christmas, we’ll be asking for a different item, toys, gift set, selection boxes etc. Our first request will be announced on Facebook tomorrow.

The easiest way to donate an item is via our Amazon wishlist. You can choose an item, maybe something you would have loved as a child, and have it sent directly to Emmeline’s. You’ll know that on Christmas morning, a child will wake up to a present, when they otherwise would have had nothing. If you would like to choose your own toy or gift set to donate, please get in touch directly to find out when to drop off. Every single donation makes a huge difference to families who are struggling.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/ls/ref=cm_wl_huc_view?ie=UTF8&lid=8CZQTCTEY5RT&ref_=cm_wl_huc_view&ty=wishlist

Please follow us on Facebook for more information and to follow our latest appeals.

A while ago we set out with the aim of transforming our outdoor space into a garden and allotment. The aim was to create a useful space where we could hold outdoor meetings, classes and toddler sessions. Thanks to our friends at MUD (Manchester Urban Diggers), we now have created an amazing garden which we hope will benefit the whole community.

Named “The Pankhurst Plot” is a sustainably funded project with MUD in collaboration with the Friends of Chorlton Park Group & Emmeline’s Pantry. A vibrant and versatile food growing community garden, incorporating a woodland walk, wild play area and mud kitchen. 

The food grown will either be donated to the pantry. The garden will be maintained by volunteers and managed by MUD. The function of the garden will evolve naturally over time with it’s direction being decided through community partners input.

Our toddler group, Woodland Crew are running 2 sessions a week are being run by the amazing Conker Crew these are very popular.This is held in the woodland area in the Pankhurst Plot.

We hope to expand our schools outreach programme, so local school groups can come and work in the allotment and learn more about food poverty. So many of the children who visit us have no access to a garden of their own, so the garden will help us show how food is grown and ends up on our plates.

We have always been very fortunate at Emmeline’s to have a wonderful group of supporters, and the local community has provided such a warm welcome since we moved premises. Lots of local residents have offered up their expertise to help us create our garden, if you’d like to join them, please get in touch!

After what has felt like a long two years for the world, we’re finally in Summer and we’re busier than ever. Service user numbers have more than tripled and we’re still running a window service as service users prefer it this way .

Our other big news is that we will be opening a recycle and re-use toy library in August,this will save toys from landfill and help parents-carers who cant afford to buy toys.

Thank you to all our supporters who have made this happen by donating some amazing toys,we are well stocked up with some exciting items.

Another way our wonderful supporters have been helping recently is to organise a delivery from a supermarket and have it sent straight to us, which is more convenient than making a delivery in person. If you would like to do this, please get in touch so we can give you our delivery address and times we’re open.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/genericItemsPage/8CZQTCTEY5RT?filter&ty=wishlist&lid=8CZQTCTEY5RT&_encoding=UTF8&ref_=cm_sw_r_fa_awwl_c_bFB.Ab184WZ8Q&sort=default&type=wishlist

https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/10578#!/DonationDetails

Each year, we seem to start our Christmas preparations a little earlier and this year has been no exception. With the difficulties that COVID restrictions have added, we have had to think about how we can provide Christmas food and toys for a growing number of families, whilst still keeping clients and volunteers safe and working within the guidelines.

This year has seen a huge increase in the number of service users and as a result, Christmas at Emmeline’s will be busier than ever. We are lucky to have some wonderful supporters all over the world who generously give to ensure that vulnerable families, and those who are struggling financially, still get to enjoy their Christmas. To anyone who has been following our Facebook posts and has donated to our Christmas appeal, we thank you.

Whether it’s a cosy new pair of pyjamas on Christmas Eve, presents on Christmas morning or a turkey dinner, Emmeline’s aim to make sure that every family who visit can can enjoy those little treats that make up a Christmas and your support really does make a difference to a lot of children.

We are currently asking for toys and women’s pyjamas.

If you would like help our appeal, you can donate using the link below, or go onto our Amazon wishlist and choose a gift for a woman or child. The gift will be sent directly to Emmeline’s and distributed at Christmas time.

https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/10578?fbclid=IwAR0WeGAAuO9u2pt1bkUFij_DdcJzqt8IvgaXq7u_l2cH1BftNlcwNmLTM_4#!/DonationDetails

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/ls/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_awwl_c_bFB.Ab184WZ8Q?ie=UTF8&lid=8CZQTCTEY5RT&ref_=cm_sw_r_fa_awwl_c_bFB.Ab184WZ8Q&ty=wishlist&fbclid=IwAR1-EqAA1rov_zNZUqidETjuqc66sGneGt9SvqQkE0mdyrLOmWBtSgpavvI

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Over the last two years, like many charities and businesses, we’ve had to dramatically change the way we do things. We have always tried to provide everything a woman and her family may need to help rebuild their lives after sometimes traumatising experiences.

We still have a great many women coming to us immediately after fleeing gender based violence these include domestic violence, trafficking and modern day slavery.  For this reason, we’re asking for donations of new clothing (or money for us to purchase them)we have made links with PLT Native youth and Daisy street who donate large amounts of clothes on a regular basis. We also have amazing supporters who regularly donate u new items .Thank you

Amazon Wishlist

Donate online

For our supporters who are too far away to pop off donations including our many overseas supporters we will ensure our wish list is always up to date.

We really appreciate your purchases.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/registry/wishlist/8CZQTCTEY5RT/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_awwl_c_bFB.Ab184WZ8Q?fbclid=IwAR1lzt5jIcrMRGhNSBr67HLgRos48kPJsN9aOY1QEyGEgO-p5MmoRO1Oxmo

As we anticipated, this year was our busiest Christmas so far. So busy in fact, we’ve only just recovered. In previous years, we invited clients to come in and receive donations of food, pyjamas and toys at various appointment times throughout the day. It has always been hectic but wonderful. This year, however, we knew we would have greater numbers so we increased our appointments to stretch over two days. We roped in a few extra elves to help distribute donations and even had a surprise visit from Alexandra Mardell from Coronation Street, who mucked in and helped out in all the chaos.

All in all, we distributed donations to 96 clients who visited over 2 days. This included food for those 96 women, 158 children and 46 additional adults.

We also provided food for other charities which fed an additional 100 people.

As well as food, we distributed 2064 toys for 608 children. We even had donations of Christmas trees and decorations for those families without them.

Ali working hard in the office

One of the toy kitchens we gave away, and the lucky boy who opened it on Christmas morning

We could not have done any of this without our loyal supporters. Whether you volunteered, donated, bought from the wishlist or simply shared our posts on social media to spread the word, we want to say thank you. We received many letters from clients after Christmas explaining how without these donations, their family would not have had a Christmas. The Christmas dinner, the treats, the presents and the decorations all add up to a Christmas that parents can look forward to, not dread.

We expect next year to be even busier, we dread to think when we’ll have to start planning it! For now though, we are organising our first Emmeline’s Pantry Jamboree, so look out for information on our Facebook page.