Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 4

It was quite a dull day with constant rain. That didn’t deter our guests from coming, they still have to eat no matter the weather. By 1.45pm whilst we were still setting up to open at 2pm, a crowd was already forming, a sign that the kitchen is now an established part of the local community.

We are also beginning to get regulars coming every week, an indication that their situation is not a temporary blip. Under austerity cuts and unabated rising prices they are having to endure long term ongoing suffering with no sight in end. Pensioners whose pensions no longer covers the basic minimum needed to survive; carers looking after elderly parents with lack of support from the state; workers whose pay is so low that after paying the rent and bills they have nothing left for food; vulnerable people surviving in sheltered housing with minimal benefits; families with several children devastated by the 2 child rule; refugees not permitted to work, left to fend for themselves, every person in need is struggling to overcome adversity.

Some guests are walking long distances to attend the kitchen. Seeing that the food will get cold by the time they get back home, are beginning to eat at the kitchen. One of our enterprising guests having got his hot meal and tea took shelter from the rain in the nearby phone box to eat whilst the food was still hot, emerging 15 minutes later with empty container and cup which were disposed of in our makeshift bin – a hanging bag labelled “let’s keep our town tidy, please use the bin”.

This week, following Kier Starmer’s shocking announcement that if he comes to power he will break Labour’s promise of scrapping the 2 child policy, a policy that has pushed over a million children into poverty, we wrote an open letter to our local Labour MP Steve Reed, displayed on our sandwich stand. Read more about the cruel two child policy here.