Soup Kitchen needs your help to reach 10 year anniversary
Mansfield Soup Kitchen started as a 6 week venture in 2015, 10 years on they need your help.
From origins on Mansfield Marketplace to their current home on Church St Mansfield, Mansfield Soup Kitchen or more commonly known as MSK have come a long way. Today they’re relied upon by a host of people, not only serving 2-course meals to the homeless but providing food to people struggling with the cost of living, families, the young and elderly, even having a food table where anyone can pick up a bargain.
Since COVID and the recent cost of living crisis the amount of people accessing the service has increased considerably, on the flip side it has taken its toll on funds.
Along with everyone else the purse strings have become very tight of late, Sara Spalding one of the coordinators said: “We’ve become very good over the years at cooking quality food on a budget, collecting surplus food from local supermarkets, using donations of food cupboard essentials and locally grown produce, our service users are full of praise for what is served up.
"However we do have to supplement the ‘free’ food with a source of protein to make sure we serve a well rounded nutritious yet tasty meal, we did have a good stock of various meat in the freezers however two extended power outages from work on the electric cables underground outside meant the loss of around £2000 worth of stock, unfortunately we were only compensated £150 so we’ve struggled to replace the amount that was lost.”
Speaking of their commitment to help the community coordinator Rhonda Buckland says: “We love what we do, all our volunteers give their time because they love making a difference, from serving a meal to helping furnish a flat for a homeless person we’ve done it all, we have a 100% success record with those we help furnish a property and make a house a home, every person who has asked for our help after being lucky enough to get off the streets is still in accommodation, we give them a sense of belonging, a sense of pride and somewhere they want to come back to at the end of the day. The first couple we helped is still in their home some seven years later, others have got off the streets and found jobs, started families etc, we are very proud of what they’ve achieved.”
We’ve managed to speak to a few service users who have said “they’re the only family I’ve got now and I don’t know what I’d do without them”, the food is amazing, I look forward to it”, we have them to thank for our home and our lives, if it wasn’t for them making our flat beautiful instead of an empty shell we’d have been back on the streets by now, but with their support we are now clean and very happy”.
Unfortunately times have hit hard for MSK, there used to be many people and companies alike that would donate funds, funds used for the necessities like paying the bills, keeping the lights on, ensuring they’re still stay a ray of hope and support for those less fortunate, with times becoming hard for everyone donations have dwindled.
They have a charity shop next door to the soup kitchen which Rhonda and Sara own and work at for free, looking through the rails and shelves there is an abundance of items still with their original shop tags, there is everything from high street to high end, it’s a hidden gem and a must visit, everything from clothes, homeware, children and baby, hobbies, books, DVDs & CDs, jewellery, brand new makeup and skincare, it’s literally all here and it’s open Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 11.30am - 4pm.
To contact MSK call 01623 237380 during shop hours, email [email protected] or find them on Facebook.
If you wish to make a one off donation or set up a monthly one you can send money to Mansfield Soup Kitchen (NatWest Business Account) Sort Code 60-14-03 Account Number 61250058, alternatively you can send via PayPal to their email address above.