Breakfast Buddies reach two-year milestone in Maidstone
Community initiative battles weekend hunger and builds connections
The Breakfast Buddies charity in Maidstone has celebrated its second anniversary, marking a significant milestone in addressing weekend food insecurity for local vulnerable residents.
Speaking to Hits and Greatest Hits Radio Kent, Jane Gardiner, said the event started out small, but has rapidly progressed since:
"We knew that a lot of people weren't eating from between Friday and Monday, so they were going the weekend without food.
"There's a lot of fantastic service provision in Maidstone that supports people, you know, with food and other services. But we learnt that come Friday evening that there was nothing really available. So we thought, well, there's a need, let's see if we can meet that need.
"We set the service up on Saturday morning, not really knowing how well received it would be. On the first Saturday, about 12 people turned up for a warm, hot breakfast and company. From there, it's grown to around 60 people every Saturday are accessing our services.
"That's a really good thing because people know about us, and we can support more people. But it's also quite a worrying thing because it means that the demand continues to grow for quite basic food provision.
"What we're doing is we're providing a healthy cooked breakfast every Saturday, and also we do freshly made sort of sandwich packed lunch for people to take away so they've got something for lunch."
Gardiner believes the increased demand is indicative of the rising cost of living, with more working families struggling to make ends meet.
She added that they still see a lot of people in immediate need for support:
"We see people who are homeless, people who have insecure or unsuitable housing, and individuals facing substance use challenges. They're coming to us not because they want to but because they need support."
"People are really, really determined to do the best they can for themselves, for their families. But when everything is so expensive, when accommodation is so expensive and food is so expensive, when living is just so expensive, it's like the odds are stacked against people. That's what it feels like."