Sunderland Community Soup Kitchen in line for Best of Wearside award for helping feed hungry people with 'food and love'

The Sunderland Community Soup Kitchen has been nominated for a Best of Wearside trophy for the way its volunteers ‘make sure that people have food and love’.

All of its 64 volunteers are unpaid and they give food to more than 80 people a night.

But the cause does so much more than just provide food. It also offers fresh fruits for breakfast the next day, food parcels and also toiletries.

This winter, it has also provided tents, sleeping bags, blankets, hats, scarves, gloves and socks to the homeless.

It now has a warehouse to store nonperishable foods to supply food pods around the Sunderland and Washington areas.

And it has achieved all this despite only being set up in July last year.

The award nomination for the cause said: “This group of volunteers are truly amazing people who go the extra mile and have changed lives.”

Founder Andrea Bell said the nomination was amazing and, if the soup kitchen was to win an award, it would be a ‘step in the right direction’ towards highlighting the struggles faced by so many people.

“It is recognition of people’s commitment to a problem, a massive problem. We have people who don’t have enough money to feed their children and some of them are employed people.”

“I am more than thrilled that we have been nominated.”

This year’s competition has backing from headline sponsor BGL, partner sponsor Utility Alliance, partner sponsor Gentoo, and category sponsor Marelli.

We thank them all for getting on board, and now comes your turn to get involved.

We hope you will inundate us with entries and make the job of the judges that much harder.

Take a look at the categories, read the entry instructions, and your favourite cause will be a step closer to hopefully winning a Best of Wearside title.

THE CATEGORIES

:: Community Group of the Year.

:: Student of the Year.

:: Green Champion of the Year.

:: Child of Courage.

:: Child of Achievement.

:: Young Voice of Wearside.

:: Fundraiser of the Year.

:: Volunteer of the Year.

:: Sporting Achievement of the Year.

::Community Champion Award.

HOW TO NOMINATE

To nominate, just send your name, address and telephone number, as well as your email address, if applicable. Remember to include the category you are putting your nominated cause into.

Also send the name of the person you wish to nominate, along with their address, telephone number and email (if known).

Send all of that to Lynn Wild by no later than March 2. Judging of all the entries will be held that same week with the finale at the Stadium of Light on Wednesday, April 1.

There are three ways to nominate.

l Email those entries to [email protected].

l Post them to Lynn Wild, North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC), Wearfield Enterprise Park East, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, SR5 2TA.

l Visit the website at https://www.bestofwearside.co.uk.