“I left Sudan due to the conflict in my country. I went from Sudan to Libya, Italy and finally I’m here. In all these places I found a lot of obstacles and I didn’t feel safe in these previous countries. In the UK I feel safe. I found everyone welcoming here. ” says Amal, volunteer at Crossroads Community Hub in Newton.

The Hub in a disused Church (closed since 2018) was founded during the pandemic by local councillors Adam Langan and Richard Beacham in conjunction with The Welcome Network – a community project in Cheshire West that seeks to reduce food poverty.

Andy Glover, Minister at Hoole Baptist Church was approached in May 2020 to provide the infrastructure to run the Hub. He says that “We began a partnership with the West Cheshire Foodbank. We get all our food from them. Fresh fruit and veg is supplied by Hoole Food Market. Agencies of the Foodbank issue vouchers which can be redeemed at the Hub. “ The team spend Mondays processing and packing food parcels for those in need, also offering a delivery service continuing the work done during Covid. The Hub is funded by grants from the local authority, The Steve Morgan Foundation, The National Lottery and others. Volunteers are drawn from the Church and the local community.

Andy Glover and Abi Lycett outside the Hub

The Hub opens on Thursday 1-3 offering a a cafe and meeting place and also on Friday 10-12. Abi Lycett, project manager coordinates the hub and its 30 volunteers:

“In September we supported 78 households, compared to the same month in 2022 where we supported 22. You can see the dramatic increase. We are open one extra session a week now and we are supporting a lot of refugees and asylum seekers, theres an increase in families and people struggling with the cost of living crisis. In the last year we have supported 125 people seeking sanctuary, from all different nationalities. Over the last 6 weeks we have sent about 55 food parcels. “

Andy continues:

“What started to happen in March is that people started to arrive. We were getting a steady stream of refugees and asylum seekers. The difference is in their status. By July we were getting 30-40 people turning up. We reached out to a few organisations- I met with City of Sanctuary (https://chester.cityofsanctuary.org/) and CHAWREC (https://www.chawrec.org.uk/) They teach English, provide drop ins and help in the process of asylum seekers gaining refugee status. Northgate Church provide quite a lot of support for Iranians who have come into the city. We talked about it and felt like there was a space that wasn’t being occupied.

“The Foodbank told us the main reasons why people need to access them: benefits being late, people being in debt, the other was no public recourse to funds due to immigration status, and that includes refugees and asylum seekers. Refugees are slightly different because once you gain that status you can actually access benefits. The Ukrainians refugee approach is slightly different based around sponsorship. The Afghans that left during that moment of crisis when the West pulled out, they were given immediate refugees status. Some live in hotels and are provided meals, you also get some in shared houses- SERCO buy up houses and house 4-6 refugees in one house. Housing benefit is covered but the rest they are left to themselves. When they come here we have 2 approaches now. We have a list of food that we would give to people in shared houses and a list for people in hotels. ”

Amal began volunteering at the Hub after hearing about the service from other residents in the local hotel where he lives. “I found the place really friendly, they offer tea and coffee, I like being around friends and meeting people from different backgrounds.” He now helps out with translation and interpretation. “I figured out I could offer some help because I speak Arabic and English. ” Volunteering offers some respite and a chance to get involved in Chester’s community- the city which he now regards as home. He is provided with food and accommodation and £9 a week to live on.

“Its a long time. Its hard waiting for asylum, sometimes its more than two years. Its hard , waiting and being prevented from doing any paid work. If we are not involved in voluntary activities things can be really hard. I miss my family and colleagues in Sudan since the war that happened in April, its still ongoing and my family have moved to another city.”

Volunteers Neil and Helen prepare food parcels

The Hub also provides clothes and toiletries- via a partnership with Ellesmere Port charity Refugee Assist, who also come into the Hub to provide additional support every 3 weeks. “Because of the complexity of getting clothes and specific foods actually giving us money so that we can buy food, really helps. We point people towards Refugee Assist if people want to donate clothes and toiletries. ” The Hub are running a crowdfunding campaign in response to the cost of living crisis and welcome any donations:

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/food-for-our-bodies-and-hope-in-our-hearts

Sitting in the cafe was a moving experience with a refugee family, individuals and a local family visiting for a coffee. A young woman resting her her head on her partner’s shoulder as they wait for their food parcel to be prepared. Says Andy : “Theres a lot of tension and uncertainty about refugees and asylum seekers coming to this country. We have people from Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan and 6 other mainly war torn countries. Language is a big barrier but we are working hard on that. You don’t know what their stories are. Most are men and they have families back in their countries. There are certain families particularly Afghanistan where its a whole group with children and grandparents“

With the Government’s aim of “stopping the boats” Andy is well aware of the debate in the UK.

“For us the reason we do it is its important that we offer kindness to a stranger. Its something very fundamental to our Faith. Sometimes its an either/or argument. I know resources are tight and the country is struggling but if we can help both… I know people do struggle but I think sometimes the media does fuel it, and social media can ignite on that fuel. I’ve found in Chester people don’t really know its going on to be fair. As you get to know them, most of them are so grateful. They can’t work and its quite a long process to go from asylum seeker to refugee. We are on the frontline and we meet the need. We have found people to be very generous and we are not short of volunteers and we are hoping if we get some more funding to offer two sessions on a Thursday. ”

To donate to the Hub’s Crowdfunder visit

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/food-for-our-bodies-and-hope-in-our-hearts