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   Manchester Charity calls for Salfordians to Go Hungry to help the homeless
The Manchester homeless Charity, Mustard Tree is calling on individuals, companies and organizations across Manchester and Salford to skip a meal between 28th January and 5th February and donate the money they would otherwise have spent. The Go Hungry campaign was put together between The Mustard Tree, Just Good Ideas and three students from Salford University. The aim of the week long campaign, which coincides with Poverty and Homelessness Action Week, is to raise awareness of those who struggle to have 3 square meals a day as well as raising funds to support the work of Mustard Tree and other homeless charities in Manchester and Salford. There has already been significant interest from businesses across Greater Manchester including Great Places Housing Group who are supporting the campaign, asking staff to go without lunch. David Sedman, Head of Property Services, said: “This is a brilliant idea to raise money for a very worthwhile cause. Homelessness is an issue very close to our hearts – as an organisation we do all we can to make sure the people of Manchester and Salford live in good quality housing and feel part of a community that cares. We’ll be encouraging all our staff at Great Places to get involved.” The campaign has reached as far as Cheshire with Altrincham based Thermo Fisher Scientific employees also going without lunch and sending the money saved to the Go Hungry campaign. This is the first time Go Hungry has been run but Paul Wenham CEO of Mustard Tree hopes it will not be the last “We are very excited by the simplicity of this campaign; a relatively painless way for Manchester and Salford to club together to make what could be a big difference. We hope this small start could the beginning of a yearly event where people consider those in our cities who are struggling and give a little to help”. The money raised will not only be used to support the work of the Mustard Tree providing food, clothing, furniture and training for those in need but will be distributed to other charities working with the homeless. The Go Hungry website, www.gohungry.co.uk, allows participants to donate online as well as using a specially launched text number to donate. Recent figures released show that there are increasing numbers of people in the UK dependent on charities such as Mustard Tree for food to get through the week. The Trussell Trust, a food bank provider, recently reported a sharp and worrying increase of young people turning to food banks for help. In Trafford, John Lewis partners are choosing to skip lunch on Wednesday 1st Feb and sending the collected money to the Mustard Tree. John Lewis partner Moira Roberts “It is easy to forget that there are people across Greater Manchester genuinely struggling to make ends meet, we are really happy to be playing our part to help improve their situation.” To join the campaign visit www.gohungry.co.uk For further enquiries please contact Paul Wenham paul@mustardtree.co.uk or 07868 263777 Due to problems with spam only SalfordOnline members can now leave comments. Becoming a member of SalfordOnline only takes a minute, just hit the red Join Us button at the top right hand side of the page to create your Personal account. Got a news story? Need help with publicity for an event in Salford? Send it to newsdesk@salfordonline.com or call the SalfordOnline newsdesk on 0161 789 5377. |
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