An East Belfast social supermarket says that it is seeing more working families than ever as the cost of living crisis impacts households across the city.
In This Together is a social supermarket based in the Network Centre on Templemore Avenue that helps close to 500 households in East and South Belfast every week with food parcels, financial advice and even mental health support. It also operates a weekly warm hub that has helped to bring people together who may be experiencing social isolation.
The organisation originally began around four years ago in a port-a-cabin the Willowfield Bowling Club, off the Cregagh Road, with it initially helping only a handful of households.
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But due to the strength of need in the communities as a result of the Cost of Living crisis, it needed to expand its premises and provide 1,200 people with weekly support.
Speaking to Belfast Live, Christina Henderson of In This Together, said that the rising cost of living is impacting every household in the city and that more and more working two parent families are coming to them looking for help when times are tough.
She also said that single parents with more than two children and single older men are also needing increased support.
Christina said: "We started the social supermarket around four years ago and since then the demand for help has just grown and grown to the point where we are seeing people from all walks of life struggling.
"People are just not able to cope with the constant rising prices and bills and we have seen an increase in two parent working families coming to us for support and there are some households, particularly if there is someone with an illness, who are finding it tough everyday.
"We have also found that we are having to help more people who are self-referring to us because they are no longer able to be referred to a food bank after reaching their limit and we have started to incorporate mental health support into our service because some people have reached a breaking point.
"When we first started the social supermarket four years ago, we never could have imagined that things would ever get to this point and it doesn't look like things are going to get better soon."
Christina said that In This Together has six members of staff and 20 volunteers who dedicate their time to helping others in their community, with the social supermarket operating on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, with service users paying £3.50 to do their shopping.
It is supported by the National Lottery and Fairshare, with the organisation also developing relationships with established catering companies such as Lynas.
In This Together also operates a 'warm space' every Tuesday in order to give vulnerable locals a place to go and socialise.
Christina continued: "We are noticing that there are some in our community, usually older men, who are having problems with social isolation and loneliness and the warm spaces are a good way of bringing people together for an afternoon to have a cup of tea and a good chat.
"There are also more people coming to us having difficulties with their mental health and we have created a small space where they are able to come and speak with someone and hopefully we are able to provide some support and signpost them to further help.
"We are thankful that we receive so much support from our local communities and have a great relationship with similar organisations in South and East Belfast so that we are able to help as many people as possible, but it is sad that we are in this position as a society where there are so many groups being established just to help people get through the week."
If you would like to donate to In This Together, you can donate goods to the Network Centre on Templemore Avenue, or donate via their paypal: info@togetherni.com
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