Itβs been all hands on deck with local community group moving from the premises in Beaconside to a central town location. The Lord Nelson which has been a public house since 1780βs will become the new Hub for Hearts & Hands. The pub has been closed for four years since closing its doors as the Nelson restaurant
Hearts & Hands was set up in October 2020 and is a self funding community group which initially helped and assisted those working families, couples and individuals, which were finding themselves in financial hardship because of COVID and the lockdowns.
Now assisting people who are on zero contracts, reduced hours, full time and part time workers, self employed blue light workers, retired, ex service personal and serving armed forces, suffering from the cost of living crisis helping by supplying free food hampers with enough food for the household for a week including toiletries and pet food.
Lorraine Conkey co founder said;
βWe have been blown away in the last week by the support from Staffordians, from Michael Carthy Accountants helping with paperwork to become a registered charity, Angela and Yvonne the owners of local cleaning firm Dust Demons, who came into to clean the premises as you can imagine it was full of dust and cobwebs on realising the extent of what we do within the community without charging those we help, they kindly waived their fee and instigated the call to action to help paint the premises, which was a bit garish with pink, yellow and green walls.
Within an hour of Dust Demons posting up on social media for help to paint on Sunday and Monday. Jack Taylor from The Great British Beer Company which owns The Devils Taphouse, Devils Bottle House, The Ship Around and in Leek the Hide Out offered to buy the paint and equipment needed and volunteer Julie MacArthur collected pots of paint from Screwfix, Wickes, Dulux and Jewsons, which was absolutely amazing
We have now took on the commitment to move premises into the town centre, we never thought our services would still be needed three years on. As we are self funding we have to fundraise to cover our running costs, through events and relying on the kind donations of the general public who realise they are ultimately helping friends, neighbours and work colleagues everything is confidential we realise that you are working and maybe have never had to ask for help before and the referral system is all done on line. We sell some suitable donated items on Ebay and we are fortunate that we receive great support from supermarkets, local shops and businesses, especially if there is something particularly needed like Easter Eggs or Christmas presents to place in our Christmas hampers for the children within the household
We work hand in hand with many other charities and community groups in the area, from the House of Bread to dog charity Boycies Bridge, Staffordshire Womenβs Aid to Hidden Warriors to name a few, we are all working to relieve some of the hardships that people are facing.
You may of seen our branded surplus food tables in and around the Stafford area with food from local supermarkets under the Neighbourly scheme, which is collected by volunteers from the designated supermarket on that particular day, with items going into the hampers or placed on tables outside volunteerβs houses, anyone under any circumstances can come and take items for their household, all we ask in return that if you are able, to donate non perishable items in the collection box and the items will be placed into the free food parcels.β
If you need assistance please email or fill out the referral from on the website.
Would you like to volunteer as a pickup driver ?