The Bread and Butter Thing

In Bullcroft Memorial Hall, ten volunteers work their way through crates of vegetables, cereals and frozen meals, filling three bags of shopping for each of the eighty people on the list.  

This is the Bread and Butter Thing. It runs weekly food hubs across the UK, more than 150 of them, with five now open in Doncaster. Each hub exists for people who need support getting food on the table and each one is kept going by local volunteers who show up week in, week out. 

The demand tells its own story. Every Bullcroft session books out fast, and it's the same picture across the wider network. Rising bills, tighter wages, and thinner budgets have pushed more households into needing help with food, and services like this one are absorbing the pressure. 

The bags themselves hold a real weekly shop. Fruit, vegetables, sweet potatoes, cereals, pasta, chilled meals, frozen portions, chicken. Enough for a household to build meals from through the week. 

The volunteers span every age. Retirees and teenagers work the crates side by side. 

There are no criteria to join. Anyone who needs the service is welcome, and no one is asked to explain why. The welcome is the same for everyone. 

To find your nearest Bread and Butter Thing hub in Doncaster and register as a member, visit breadandbutterthing.org. If you could give a morning a week to help pack bags for your neighbours, they'd welcome you too.