00:00The People's Kitchen, now one of the North East's most respected charities, is marking its 40th anniversary.
00:07The organisation was founded to support people experiencing homelessness.
00:11It continues to provide meals, clothing and companionship entirely without government funding,
00:17relying instead on donations and community support.
00:21During a recent visit, the founder's daughter, Ailey, met original volunteers and reflected on her mother's lasting impact,
00:27saying she would be proud of those who kept the vision alive.
00:31Truste Maggie called Alison's legacy a powerful force of kindness that continues to change lives.
00:38So this year we're celebrating our 40th year, which is very exciting for everybody here.
00:43Some of our volunteers have been volunteering here for 40 years and some of our friends have been coming here for 40 years.
00:49There's a lot of history and there's a lot of pride in what we're doing.
00:53We're still doing the same thing, which is probably doing it on a bigger scale now.
00:57But we're very proud of what we've achieved.
01:00At the same time, we'd rather we didn't need to exist, but we do, so we're still here.
01:05I think Alison would be, I think she'd be proud of us that we've kept to her original values.
01:11We've added some, but we've really kept to the core of what she was about, which was generosity of spirit.
01:16You know, if we have it, we will give it out.
01:19We're just here to make our friends feel a little bit better about themselves when they leave and when they came.
01:25We really try and stick to her values and it was fantastic when her daughter came last week to have a look around and it really resonated with her and she said that her mom would be really proud, which made us all very happy.
01:37Our friends, our friends is what we call the people that use that, the people's kitchen.
01:41So our friends come to us for a variety of reasons.
01:45Some come for a cup of coffee, for some food and just to have a chat.
01:50Some come to getting out of the cold.
01:52Some come for showers, toilets and potentially some help with clothing.
01:56Some people have complex needs and some don't.
01:58Some people are coming to us now with their work lanyard on and they'll simply say,
02:02I don't have enough money to feed the kids at home and myself, so is it OK if I come here for my tea?
02:07Which is absolutely fine.
02:08So anybody can walk through the door and we will feed them.
02:11We don't fix anything.
02:13We are a bit of a stick in plaster, but we can signpost.
02:16We've got great relationships with lots of the councils, the providers, other organisations that can help,
02:22whether it's with mental health, whether it's with finding a bed for the night,
02:26or whether it's finding a home, a permanent home, whether it's getting a passport or getting into a doctor or a dentist.
02:32So we network and we signpost and we will practically help people as much as we can.
02:39But we're not here to fix anybody.
02:41So we will try and provide some support if it's requested without,
02:46and we say we're a non-judgmental charity, so we don't try and fix anybody.
02:50We just try and support them.
02:51Post-Covid, our numbers have increased significantly and they've increased through more people being just unable to afford to feed themselves.
