'Life-saving' work of Grantham Poverty Concern not possible without volunteers, says co-ordinator after award win
An organisation that provides support for some of the most vulnerable people in society recently won an award in recognition of its efforts.
Grantham Poverty Concern took home the award for Best Social Enterprise at the Grantham Journal Business Awards back in November.
Members of Grantham Business Club and sponsor Duncan & Toplis judged the award, concluding that Grantham Poverty Concern showed “clear evidence of commercial awareness and innovative strategies to complement the aims of the organisation”.
A social enterprise is defined as organisation that has achieved commercial success, but its primary aim is non-profit making.
Grantham Poverty Concern was established in 2001 by Ruby Stuckey MBE, offering a safe and non-judgemental place to allow people to get hot food and drink along with a range of support services.
Co-ordinator Chris Thomas discussed what it meant to win the award and how the organisation had adapted to some immense challenges in recent years.
How did it feel to win the award?
As a charity we obviously do not undertake the work and support in our community to win awards, but to even be nominated was a complete surprise to us all.
Then to be in a final three and in such illustrious company as the two other fantastic local organisations was a great honour.
To actually win was unbelievable. We feel that this shows how we all in Grantham understand the need to reach out and help those on the margins, those struggling, especially in the current financial climate that we all find ourselves in.
Why do you think Grantham Poverty Concern stood out to the judges?
I would like to think that as a charity we always have the interests of our clients at the heart of whatever we do. Every single one of us is a volunteer, and I think that to do the work that we have been doing and will continue to do, we must have compassion, understanding and a non-judgemental approach to anybody that approaches us for help.
There is also a lot of behind the scenes work that goes on day in, day out. So this shows that Grantham Poverty Concern is committed to its support for as long as it is needed.
Tell us a little bit about what you do as an organisation?
As a charity we have been operating for over 20 years now. We operate purely in Grantham and its immediate surrounding area. We offer a safe haven for the homeless, the vulnerable, those battling issues (including mental health, substance or alcohol addiction).
We do this by providing a hot meal seven days a week in set locations around Grantham. At each of these sessions we also offer support, signposting to other agencies, benefit advice and probably the most underrated is a non judgemental listening ear.
How have you adapted over the last few years?
I think that we have all been challenged over the last few years, and certainly as a charity that encourages face to face support with our clients we had to adapt overnight in March 2020 to a new way of operating.
At the heart of the change was ensuring that those in need did not feel forgotten or even more marginalised than normal, so rather than having our usual seven daily sessions, we moved to a food parcel delivery support on a weekly basis.
Little did we know that the need would increase by 1,000 per cent from week one, to the point where we were distributing over 250 food parcels into households that needed them on a weekly basis.
We were and are incredibly lucky that we have a fantastic group of volunteers across all of our locations, and a small group of these volunteers committed to delivering food parcels on a weekly basis all the way through Covid. Without these amazing people we would not have been able to support in the way that we did.
What challenges have you faced and will face?
I think that ‘challenges’ can be used to drive on organisations and charities. I certainly feel that we at Grantham Poverty Concern had to adapt and change our way of support and maybe even accept that what had been working for us would not work through the pandemic and even into post-pandemic times.
There can always be a challenge of some parts of society not understanding why we reach out and support those who are battling issues. I hope that through the work that we do and by hopefully sharing our stories then we can show that nobody should feel forgotten in 2022.
We are also conscious of the current cost of living crisis that we are all facing, this is having an effect on donations. We are a purely donation driven charity, so this will be a challenge for the coming months/years.
How have the volunteers risen to those challenges?
We are incredibly lucky that we have people giving their time who have a real passion and calling to reach out and help, support those in our community who need it.
Our volunteers have adapted to different ways of operating at times. For example, from not being able to open at all, to being able to open but only serve takeaway meals, to then being able to open the doors and have our clients back in but in a safe environment, and they have done this in a loving supportive way for anybody that has come to any of our sessions.
Without our volunteers there would not be a Grantham Poverty Concern, and the last couple of years have shown that the small team that gave their Fridays or Saturdays up weekly have been real lifesavers for some in our community. I cannot thank them enough, it has been a real pleasure and privilege to have shared the last two years leading our Covid response and I hope that this award will be something that everybody will be able to feel pride over.