29 May 2024
Rush House, Rotherham: Empowering young people to better futures
Over the past year, the cost of living crisis has seen youth food insecurity double, with twice as many 18-25 year olds accessing food support services for the first time. Charities like Rush House in Rotherham have had to step up as demand for food has doubled.
Rush House provides support to young people facing homelessness, care leavers, and young unaccompanied asylum seekers. The charity’s core mission is to provide safe, secure accommodation for youngsters in Rotherham, alongside help with life skills that will eventually enable them to live independently.
But Rush House is a small charity with limited resources. Project Manager Steve Harris says: “The cost of living crisis has been hard on everyone. We’re all feeling the pinch and it’s definitely had an impact on staff, but we all muck in together. We would never turn anyone away from Rush House as we know how important it is. We still find youngsters who have left our care coming back now and again for a cup of tea, a friendly chat and during the cost-of-living crisis, a bit of extra help too.”
Food provided by FareShare has been making a vital contribution to the day-to-day operations at Rush House for over 20 years and access to nutritious food is a cornerstone of the team’s work. Rush House can use good-to-eat, surplus food to provide warm meals to those in need as well as to engage young people in life skills support they provide, including cookery sessions and budgeting.
Steve says the role food from FareShare has in their operation is huge: “The amount we pay to be a FareShare member is paid back to us tenfold. The food we receive each week quite simply helps us make sure that people don’t go hungry. We can provide food not only to the young people in our care but extend this support where needed to help individuals and families in our local community too. Nobody is going hungry on our watch if we can help it.”
When it comes to the future of Rush House, the long-term goal is to become bigger and better, not just in Rotherham but beyond. Steve says: “We would love to replicate what we have here in other areas too, potentially in multiple sites across the region. FareShare food has been enormously important to Rush House for more than 20 years, and we are sure it will have a big part to play in our future too. We want as many young people as possible to be happy, to be healthy and to have nice full bellies.”
