00:00I was doing furniture upcycling projects, outreach projects, to people on probation
00:07through Make Your Way, that was why it was called Make Your Way, to help them steer away
00:10from having to go through probation again. And I got a contract with Sunderland City
00:15Council to deliver furniture packages to families and people in crisis. That's when I was delivering
00:20the furniture, I realised that the people I was delivering the furniture to didn't have
00:24food or enough food to last until the end of the week. I decided that I did want to
00:28be able to offer that service along with the furniture packages and I started researching
00:34and making calls how you could get food for a food bank. We work with all the local schools
00:39around Kenton and Gosforth. We've had pupils who have come into the food bank, I've showed
00:45them around, they've come with a little list of questions and asked how the food bank works.
00:49I've done presentations in schools where if a school does say a harvest festival collection
00:54for us, I'll then say to them, for what you've done for us, would you like me to come and
00:59talk to the children about what we do at the food bank? And that's worked really well and
01:02I'm hoping to carry on doing that in the future as well. The more people have the knowledge
01:06around why food banks exist, as well as the people that need the food banks, why they
01:10need them, then it's more of a supportive community thing. So I met Rob in this environment
01:17three years ago. He said that he wanted to help because he said, his words, if there'd
01:23been a food bank in Kenton when I was little, my mum would have used it, which I thought
01:28was like, you know, he's collaborated with nearby taxis and nearby taxis has funded some
01:35of the rent for Kenton Food Bank. And then other business partners that Mr. Armstrong
01:40knows, he asked them if they would come together to support Kenton Food Bank with its overheads
01:45and five local businessmen have agreed to do that. So it's five people, five businesses
01:52all together that have put some money together to make sure that Kenton Food Bank will have
01:55its rent paid for until December 2025.
