The Welcome is a long-standing community organisation providing vital support to over 250 vulnerable residents in Knutsford’s Longridge and Shaw Heath areas. This application seeks funding to help sustain a key staff role—the Assistant Manager— who plays a central part in coordinating services that address food poverty, loneliness, low income, and social isolation in these underserved neighbourhoods.
The Assistant Manager oversees a wide range of impactful initiatives, including subsidised weekly food shops, family cooking sessions, children’s holiday activities, and social groups for older adults. Working with a strong team of volunteers and partners, the role ensures that local residents not only access practical support, but also experience meaningful community connection.
A cornerstone of the programme is the weekly Bread-and-Butter Thing grocery shop, hosted at Manor Park School, which currently supports 70 local families. This sustainable alternative to food banks enables low-income households to stretch their budgets while preserving dignity and choice. Complementary family cooking sessions, delivered with housing partners Great Places and Peaks & Plains, help families make the most of their ingredients while fostering healthy eating habits.
For older residents—many of whom are isolated, bereaved, or living with chronic health conditions—the weekly luncheon club, Chatty Café, Knit & Natter, and chair exercise groups offer vital companionship, warm meals, and mental stimulation. These groups are often the only point of contact or hot meal in a week for some attendees and have become safe, supportive spaces where friendships and self-confidence are rebuilt.
The Assistant Manager plays a crucial advocacy and support role, offering individual assessments and referring people to services like welfare advice, debt support, employability coaching, and mental health resources. This holistic, person-centred approach means beneficiaries receive a complete package of care tailored to their unique circumstances.
Residents are reached through a combination of digital outreach, word-of-mouth, local school partnerships, and referrals from health and housing services. The Welcome’s trusted presence in the community means it is often the first place residents turn when facing financial hardship, mental health struggles, or family stress.
The project’s outcomes include:
- Reduced loneliness and improved mental wellbeing for around 60 older adults.
- Increased food security for 70+ families.
- Stronger family resilience through cooking skills and holiday activities for
children. - Progression toward employment or independence for individuals receiving
wraparound support.
Impact is measured through regular feedback, assessments, and case tracking via Salesforce. Ongoing input from community forums like Chatty Café helps shape services and ensure they reflect real need.
The Welcome has been embedded in this community since 1986 and continues to evolve in response to challenges like the cost-of-living crisis. This funding will sustain the Assistant Manager role—ensuring vulnerable residents continue to access the practical help, warm spaces, and social connection they need to move from crisis to stability.
