Burnley community hub helping support thousands of vulnerable households

In just four weeks, Burnley Together has dealt with 904 food bank referrals, helped 150 people with prescription deliveries, received 3,168 calls and emails, and made 150 calls per day to shielded people.

The community hub, which boasts more than 100 volunteers, was established by a wide range of partners across the public, private and voluntary sectors, including Burnley Council, The Calico Group, Lancashire County Council, Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale Council for Voluntary Services, Burnley FC in the Community, Spacious Places, Burnley Leisure, the Football Trust and the faith sector.

Some 100 partners are helping to deliver Burnley Together, including Ghausia Mosque which is running a food bank to complement the work of the community kitchen.

In the past month it has delivered 776 family food parcels and essential toiletries across the borough, and provides hot home-cooked meals delivered by volunteers every Sunday. Around 150 families are being supported and that number is increasing every week.

Council leader Charlie Briggs said: "Burnley Together was established to provide a 'one stop shop' where businesses, groups and individuals who want to help and can offer services, and those who need help, can be brought together.

"Within a very short space of time it's managed to achieve that and provided much-needed help and advice during the current crisis. That's in large part thanks to the hard work, dedication and generosity of all those who have supported the service.

"Our borough prides itself on its strong community spirit and the success of Burnley Together proves that spirit is alive and kicking."

Philip Jones, director for The Calico Group, said: “Everyone is pulling together to get us through this epidemic. The amount of work and offers of help we've had has been overwhelming and I'd like to thank everyone for their support.

"Without that we couldn't have made such a positive difference to people's lives in this difficult time. We will continue to work together to get us all through this."