Food For All – The End of an Era Sharon Kelly, Food For All Service Manager The lead up to the pandemic was an odd one for me. I had been recovering from an accident where I had sustained a nasty head injury and the weeks leading up to lockdown were all very vague. I had not been well enough to pay much attention to how serious Covid-19 was becoming. I returned to work on the Thursday before lockdown to attend an emergency meeting. It felt like the opening scenes from an apocalypse movie! Food For All (FFA) went from a thriving foodfocused group of services to nothing almost instantly. Good Mood Food (GMF) customers began optimistically pushing back bookings for weeks, then months until it became apparent that we were not going to trade again, a realisation that was very devastating for us all. We had all worked so hard over the years, building a business that sat at the centre of all that we did and was our identity as a service. Instantly, and with much resilience, we re-focused as a team at the catering unit and began to look for opportunities to help. In the beginning, we worked with various charities to make lunches for children who would have received school meals. Then, as the need for food support for shielding and vulnerable people increased, we joined the Manchester Food Hub and worked with local organisations cooking and providing ready-to-heat meals and food aid. At some points, we were making several thousand meals per week. Annual Review 2020-21
12
