Hartlepool scheme to tackle food poverty is over subscribed as hundreds join The Bread and Butter Thing

The Bread and Butter Thing was launched in Hartlepool last year and sees residents in need receive a week’s worth of fresh food and other essentials in return for a nominal membership fee.

There are a total of 3,099 members signed up with five delivery hubs in Hartlepool across the week at Community Hub Central, Community Hub South, Burbank House, St Hilda’s Church and the West View Project.

The latest meeting of Hartlepool Borough Council’s finance and policy committee heard the “extremely positive project” has seen 10,061 sets of bags - equivalent to over 311,287 meals - provided in 2022.

This means an average of 60 households at each hub each week are supported.

However Gemma Ptak, council assistant director for preventative and community based services, noted there is now an “over subscription of demand.”

She said: “What we’re trying to do to manage some of that demand is where people have had food one week, we prioritise those that didn’t get food that particular week on the following week.

“However the demand is increasing so much we’re having to do that on a three-week rotation in some instances.”

She warned this “will have an impact on people’s cost of living” when they can only access the service “every other week or every three weeks”.

Community Hub Central and Community Hub South are regularly oversubscribed by an average of 75 and 80 people a week respectively, according to council reports.

Meanwhile Burbank is now averaging 27 oversubscriptions a week and West View 22.

Ms Ptak noted this shows the continued need for the programme, however, which has numerous benefits.

She said: “We are seeing people from a range of backgrounds accessing this service and people are extremely grateful for this.

“They’re having more fruit and vegetables by being part of this model because they wouldn’t typically buy that in their shop.”

So far Hartlepool residents have benefited from a cumulative saving of over £266,000 by shopping with The Bread and Butter Thing.

Working with over 60 suppliers, the project unlocks “over 100 tonnes of industry surplus every week”.

To benefit from the scheme, go to www.breadandbutterthing.org/members.