UP CLOSE IN CREWE: with Michele Parks of Chance Changing Lives, a charity dedicated to feeding the homeless

HERE at Crewe Nub News we aim to support our community, promoting shops, businesses, charities, clubs and sports groups.

We profile some of these businesses and organisations regularly in a feature called UP CLOSE IN CREWE.

This week we meet Michele Parks, the general manager of the local charity Chance Changing Lives, which is serving up indoor meals for the homeless in Crewe for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

Chance Changing Lives is dedicated to providing food for the area's hungry with up to 70 people in need glad to tuck into some vital sustenance at the Saturday Kitchen hosted at Jubilee House.

During lockdowns over the last eighteen months the charity has maintained a takeaway service from Jubilee House; last Saturday's return to indoor servings for the first time since the start of the pandemic was welcomed by volunteers and clients alike.

"We haven't gone back to full seating yet and we will continue to do takeaways for families from the kitchen door, but it is good to be back in a dining room, there's dignity in that," says Michele.

"Our Saturday Kitchen is for any adult in need. We have a lot of regulars and there is a strict behaviour policy, but if you are hungry then we never turn you away.

"We cater for a range of people; often those who are suffering from poor mental health, addiction, ex-services, people who've suffered abuse and those with PTSD. Many are extremely lonely, and others have lost family members and struggled to cope."

Michele says the Saturday Kitchen is unique in Crewe, being the only food provision on a Saturday, it ties in with the work Chance Changing Lives is doing at its Community Pantry base in Coronation Crescent.

"We have supported many of those who come through the doors at Jubilee House experiencing homelessness to make the move onwards out of absolute poverty to find suitable accommodation, shopping and budgeting for themselves in the Pantry, saving money to sort out their finances.

"We meet people at our Kitchen who can then begin to get themselves on their feet and come to our Community Pantry. There was one young man we met at our kitchen, when he went missing we searched and found him underneath a hedge, suffering severe withdrawal and seizures. We got him into hospital and rehab and now two years on he is settled with his young family," recalls Michele.

"There are some great success stories. But every smile and each hot meal given are successes in themselves."

Chance Changing Lives started life in December 2017 at St. Stephen's Church on Gainsborough Road, but when it became obvious larger commercial kitchen facilities were needed for its staff of dedicated volunteers to work in, responding to a consistent and growing need, they moved to Jubilee House (The Wishing Well Project) where they have been ever since.

The Community Pantry was set up two years ago in premises provided by Guinness Properties on Coronation Crescent.

There, those struggling to pay their bills are offered membership and supported to budget, choosing discounted products that have been generously donated or collected from supermarkets who have been glad to offer a helping hand.

"When people arrive, they are in debt and are struggling to pay for food, rent and fuel. Members contribute £3 a week and for that they get up to £20 of food, toiletries, and household products. The main difference between the Chance Community Pantry and a foodbank is that members can choose what they put in their baskets," explains Michele.

"Our products are colour coded by their price, which helps as a guide to budget.

"Chance has given over 500 member families choice. We believe in choice and dignity, enabling people to stay afloat in difficult times.

"Our most popular products are meals in a tin, like Fray Bentos pies, beans and sausages or stewing steak. Period products are always given free. We are currently raising money to provide free fruit and vegetables."

Every week the dedicated team of Chance volunteers pick up donations from supermarkets and their food drop-off points; the charity now even has its own liveried van.

On one side of the Community Pantry stands a line of commercial freezers, bought from donated funds, which means Chance can offer something extra.

"We buy frozen meat, and we also pick up from the Co-op and Marks & Spencer at the end of the day," adds Michele, whose charity is proud to be one of the Co-op's current Local Causes in Crewe.

"Co-op staff have been amazing, and we've got good links with local foodbanks too, we have a service we run with St. Paul's Pantry offering delivery to people who are housebound," she adds.

"We have had help from a number of businesses and charitable trusts, most recently the Bentley Foundation, which is funding our current offer at the Pantry for a year."

Meanwhile, there are plans being laid for the future with a three-year plan in place and a hunt for town centre premises.

"We need somewhere we can offer a one-stop shop. We'd like one space where we can offer both sides of our service, the Kitchen, and the Community Pantry.

"Not only that but currently we have two storage units we pay for each month, money that we'd much rather be using to help those in need more directly. We need somewhere that has room for storage where we can unite our Kitchen and Community Pantry with other important local services.

"We have been managing our resources carefully with that in mind and are continually looking for an appropriate available space in the heart of Crewe. Our base at Coronation Crescent would remain to meet that local need."