A SCHEME to feed some of the borough’s most vulnerable residents has made sure it’s following lockdown restrictions.
In December 2020, the Salvation Army, with a helping hand from Churches Together in Wokingham, is providing a hot lunch every day through until the end of March.
Throughout the pandemic, it has already been providing takeaway meals three times a week, but Captain Jan Howlin said new restrictions inspired the team to do more.
“Because of the lockdown, we felt that it wasn’t fair to bring people who were receiving meals out to us – we want as many people to stay home as possible,” she said.
“So we decided to shift what we were doing into a delivery service.
“Overall we’ve tried to adapt to the pandemic as much as possible, which seems to be working.”
Captain Howlin said that by offering a delivery service, there has been an uptake in the number of people being referred for meals.
“It’s been quite rewarding actually, now that the scheme isn’t dependent on people being able to get to us,” she said.
The captain said the programme was launched to aid people during the winter months.
“Last year, we did a night shelter with Churches Together in Wokingham and seven churches took part overall,” she explained.
“This year, we knew we wouldn’t be able to do that, but as a partnership we still felt that we wanted to do something.”
Captain Howlin added that a lot of their service users have been housed in temporary accommodation, but have limited access to cooking facilities.
“We can help them out by giving them at least one decent hot meal every day,” she added.
And she said the community support for the initiative has been “amazing”.
“We’ve had so much support that we’ve even had to put food donations on hold,” the captain said.
“Our freezers are rammed with food.”
The Salvation Army is also busy working with Holme Grange School to distribute hot meals on the weekends, too.
“They’re cooking meals for us in their kitchens on a Friday night, and that’s been a great collaboration,” Captain Howlin added.
For more details, search Facebook for Wokingham Salvation Army or email jan.howlin@salvationarmy.org.uk
