Reaching out to those less fortunate

BOWL of human kindness . . . Tracy Hepburn with the food donations

A KIND-HEARTED receptionist has launched a scheme to ensure hungry offenders at Oldham probation office get food.

Currently 523 Oldham people are being supervised by the Cheshire & Greater Manchester Community Rehabilitation Company. Receptionist Tracy Hepburn developed the idea of providing food parcels for people in need last winter. Since then she set up a link with Oldham Foodbank to ensure CGM CRC’s Bridge Street office is always stocked with food.

Tracy said: “We had a spell where people were coming in who were clearly hungry. As the receptionist I get to know those who are homeless. You can tell because of the thick, wintry clothing they wear.

“Often they come an hour or two early for their appointments so they can get out of the cold.

“There was one lad I got speaking to who had stayed in a fast food outlet all morning before he came to us.

“He was early, and he was hungry. I felt so sorry for him, that’s when I decided to do something about it.

“We couldn’t always give food vouchers they could use immediately because the foodbank only opens at certain times, so we used to have a whip-round to see what staff had in so that we could feed them while they were here. Supplying food parcels makes sense because homeless offenders know they can get support, which gives an extra incentive for them to come in so we can then work with them to address their issues.”

Oldham Foodbank opens from 11am-2pm (Tue-Thu) and 11am-4pm Fridays.