Chesterfield Community Food Hut receives funding boost to help more needy people

The Chesterfield Community Food Hut has been awarded £700 from Councillor Ron Mihaly’s Community Support Fund.

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The project has been operating in Chesterfield since the coronavirus lockdown began in March and has so far delivered more than 6,000 food parcels to people in need across the town.

Coun Mihaly, who represents Boythorpe and Brampton south on Derbyshire County Council, said: “The timing of the opening of the hut couldn’t have been better, with the effects of austerity and especially Covid-19 being felt in communities.

“People are struggling due to the aforementioned, and the hut provides an invaluable service in terms of food provision and social support.

“My Community Support Fund contribution of £700 will hopefully enable the hut to provide fresh produce and help to make it more sustainable into the future.

“Ventures like this, in my opinion, are the ‘glue’ that holds communities together in times of need and I will continue to support them into the future.”

Coun Janice Marriott, who serves Dunston for Chesterfield Borough Council, is also involved with the food hut, which was founded by Kelly Hall.

She described Kelly and her team as ‘an inspiration to us all’.

“They have no concept of ‘can’t do’,” she said.

“They immediately made me welcome and it is an honour to work with them and help the most vulnerable in the areas we cover.”

She also thanked Coun Mihaly on behalf of the project for his funding boost.

Volunteers from the food hut have set up a hub in the community – based at Monkwood Road Community Rooms in Dunston – to identify people in need and support them.

Vulnerable and isolated people, as well as cancer patients, are referred to the hut from mental health teams, social services and elsewhere.

The food hut told the Derbyshire Times in April that it has a simple ethos: no one gets turned away.

For more information about Chesterfield Community Food Hut and to find out how you can support it, visit www.facebook.com/Chesterfieldcommunityfoodhut

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