North Shields charity ‘stretched’ by free meal demand

A community charity has provided its 40,000th free meal of the coronavirus pandemic, warning it had been “stretched to the max” by demand.

The Cedarwood Trust, in North Tyneside, has seen the number of people it helps annually jump from 2,500 to 15,000.

The meals are cooked as part of a scheme giving people the skills needed to work in the catering industry.

Ingredients are donated by the public as well as supermarkets and food poverty charity FareShare.

The majority of the meals are given to people on the Meadowell Estate in North Shields where the trust is based.

“We were [previously] tackling obesity and people’s well-being, and we were being used by about 2,500 people a year,” said Wayne Dobson, the organisation’s chief executive officer.

“Right now we’ve jumped to 15,000. For a very small charity that is reliant on donations to survive, our service has been stretched to the max.”

Food distribution co-ordinator Madeleine Cordukes said the trust was helping “pensioners, people who have lost their jobs and families struggling with children being at home”.

Single-mum Lindsey Newton, 39, is among the people enrolled on the trust’s Nurture Academy scheme.

“I want to use the cooking skills I gain to go and help parents who come into the centre and children too,” she said.

“We are helping a lot of vulnerable people who are lonely, who are isolated and who are struggling.”

The trust also runs a number of well-being services, such as support groups for families and people with addictions.