Wigan churches unite and open pantries to help struggling families

Those behind its Transforming Wigan movement say it has been a great success and has captured the hearts and minds of all the organisations in Wigan who also want to see a renewed, flourishing town and borough.

This has led to various new partnerships with the council, education, health and social services to provide support.

“When the pandemic began we sat down and thought ‘what does the church need to be?’ and came to the realisation that the main things we can offer is prayer and care.

“The spiritual element of praying showing beacons of hope, while the practical side of care led to the creation of the pantries.”

Church Wigan teamed with Fur Clemt and the Real Junk Food project in Wakefield to reduce the amount of edible wasted food reaching landfill. There are five food pantries open across the borough as well as a faith cafe.

The idea for the pantries is that residents pay £5 for annual membership and then they can go into their nearest outlet twice a week and get 20 items of food for £3.

“Around 300 families a week use our pantries and at one point over 1,000 families were using them.

“This practical sharing of love is a part of our mission. It has been a silver lining of the pandemic in a way.

“So many have people have joined us to help with the pantries which has created a sense of the community serving the community which is important.”

One of the people who benefitted from the pantries is Tracy.

Tracy and her two children recently moved into the Wigan area from Cambridge. She arrived with nohome, no money and no hope.

Somebody suggested that she should visit Tom’s Pantry to help out with her food needs, she was amazed at the reception she got from the volunteers and the love,care and compassion that was shown to her and this led to her rediscovering her faith in Jesus.

Tracy believes it was a turning point in her life. She was offered a new home and was welcomed into the church family. This amazing turn around impacted her so much that she then signed up to volunteer at the food pantry.

As well as the pantries, the organisation launched a community chaplain service that go into local schools and businesses, offering support to those in need.

They have also recently created a relatively new service called Lifted.

Lifted is one of the important new portfolio ministries being developed in Church Wigan with a focus on social justice.

As well as the pantries, Lifted will also concentrate on the mental health and wellbeing aspects of social justice.

A key part of this ministry will be working together with Wigan Council which recognises the significant impact Lifted will have in promoting recovery and wholeness across the borough.

The concept is that people can connect with a ministry that lifts them into a place of blessing, and then offers them an opportunity to serve and be involved themselves in helping others.

In addition, it is hoped that they can add a debt advice service alongside Lifted.

Rev Cook added: “This is something we are really keen to do in 2022.

“There is talk about there being a tsunami of debt as a result of the pandemic because of its effect on livelihoods.

“We want to create a debt advice centre where we can serve families who are struggling with debt and helping them find a way out of

it.

“We are in the process of seeking the funding for this to get the ball rolling.”

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