fbpx
19-03
2021

Back on Track: Empowering Manchester’s vulnerable communities

Back on Track is an incredible local charity (just a stone’s throw from Broadside) that empowers disadvantaged adults to make lasting, positive changes in their lives.

They work with people who are going through recovery or rehabilitation, having encountered problems with homelessness, mental health, drugs and alcohol, or offending.

Their learning centre offers a range of support and activities including training courses, one to one guidance and work experience to give people the skills and confidence they need to get their lives back on track. Through their Swan Kitchens social enterprise they also cater events with delicious home-cooked food and they’re working on some fabulous Easter hampers that we can’t wait to get our hands on!

For the first of our guest blogs, we invited Sam Turner, Fundraising and Communications Manager at Back on Track to tell us a bit more about the amazing work they do…

 

If you ever go past the corner of Oldham Road and Great Ancoats Street, you might have noticed a striking giant mural on a wall – an image of a man slumped, his hands gripping a metal bar. The building inside is where our charity, Back on Track, is based. The mural was created five years ago to mark the work we do to support people with mental health problems.

In fact, we work with all kinds people who’ve been through a hard time in life. Some are homeless (there has been a massive increase in homelessness in Manchester in the last ten years), while others have drug or alcohol problems. In normal times we see hundreds of people at the centre every week – getting one to one support, volunteering and doing all kinds of courses.

One of our flagship projects is Swan Kitchens, our catering social enterprise. The Swan Kitchens team run the café in our centre and also provide event catering across Greater Manchester.

They mostly cater for meetings and conferences but they’ve also done quite a few weddings, birthdays and the like. But it’s not an ordinary business, it’s more a part of the community.

As well as catering for events, they distribute food to people facing poverty and work to reduce food waste by using (still fresh) food that supermarkets were going to throw out. The profit is all reinvested and one of the best things is that we’ve been able to create real paid jobs for disadvantaged people. At the moment four people who initially came to Back on Track for support are employed as catering workers for Swan Kitchens.

The last year has been a big challenge for Back on Track, especially during the strict lockdowns. For a lot of people, we were the only contact they had and their only way of getting information about keeping safe and getting food and medication. This year, with so many people experiencing isolation and mental health problems, we’ll be needed more than ever.

The pandemic has certainly had a big impact on Swan Kitchens. The team have stepped up to help whenever they can: during the first lockdown the team provided more than 2500 free meals to vulnerable people across Manchester. More recently they’ve been catering for staff and volunteers at vaccination centres.

However, as you can imagine, the market for event catering has dried up quite a bit. Because of this, the team has been putting their heads together to think up new enterprise ideas – ways to build the business back up and create more life-changing opportunities for disadvantaged people.

Just before Christmas we came up with the idea of the Swan Kitchens ethical hamper. We only had about six weeks to get it together, but we did it and it was a huge success. In fact, it went so well that we’ve now launched an Easter hamper, with our own products (cake and brownies), plus Easter eggs and more from our favourite ethical companies. So why not treat yourself or a loved one – you’ll be doing some good for the local community with every bit of chocolate you eat!

 

You can find out more about the amazing work that Back on Track do for communities in Manchester over on their website and order your Ethical Easter Hamper here. All profits go to Back on Track’s projects supporting local people facing disadvantages. The last date for orders is 19th March.

 

 

Back on Track is an incredible local charity (just a stone’s throw from Broadside) that empowers disadvantaged adults to make lasting, positive changes in their lives.

They work with people who are going through recovery or rehabilitation, having encountered problems with homelessness, mental health, drugs and alcohol, or offending.

Their learning centre offers a range of support and activities including training courses, one to one guidance and work experience to give people the skills and confidence they need to get their lives back on track. Through their Swan Kitchens social enterprise they also cater events with delicious home-cooked food and they’re working on some fabulous Easter hampers that we can’t wait to get our hands on!

For the first of our guest blogs, we invited Sam Turner, Fundraising and Communications Manager at Back on Track to tell us a bit more about the amazing work they do…

 

If you ever go past the corner of Oldham Road and Great Ancoats Street, you might have noticed a striking giant mural on a wall – an image of a man slumped, his hands gripping a metal bar. The building inside is where our charity, Back on Track, is based. The mural was created five years ago to mark the work we do to support people with mental health problems.

In fact, we work with all kinds people who’ve been through a hard time in life. Some are homeless (there has been a massive increase in homelessness in Manchester in the last ten years), while others have drug or alcohol problems. In normal times we see hundreds of people at the centre every week – getting one to one support, volunteering and doing all kinds of courses.

One of our flagship projects is Swan Kitchens, our catering social enterprise. The Swan Kitchens team run the café in our centre and also provide event catering across Greater Manchester.

They mostly cater for meetings and conferences but they’ve also done quite a few weddings, birthdays and the like. But it’s not an ordinary business, it’s more a part of the community.

As well as catering for events, they distribute food to people facing poverty and work to reduce food waste by using (still fresh) food that supermarkets were going to throw out. The profit is all reinvested and one of the best things is that we’ve been able to create real paid jobs for disadvantaged people. At the moment four people who initially came to Back on Track for support are employed as catering workers for Swan Kitchens.

The last year has been a big challenge for Back on Track, especially during the strict lockdowns. For a lot of people, we were the only contact they had and their only way of getting information about keeping safe and getting food and medication. This year, with so many people experiencing isolation and mental health problems, we’ll be needed more than ever.

The pandemic has certainly had a big impact on Swan Kitchens. The team have stepped up to help whenever they can: during the first lockdown the team provided more than 2500 free meals to vulnerable people across Manchester. More recently they’ve been catering for staff and volunteers at vaccination centres.

However, as you can imagine, the market for event catering has dried up quite a bit. Because of this, the team has been putting their heads together to think up new enterprise ideas – ways to build the business back up and create more life-changing opportunities for disadvantaged people.

Just before Christmas we came up with the idea of the Swan Kitchens ethical hamper. We only had about six weeks to get it together, but we did it and it was a huge success. In fact, it went so well that we’ve now launched an Easter hamper, with our own products (cake and brownies), plus Easter eggs and more from our favourite ethical companies. So why not treat yourself or a loved one – you’ll be doing some good for the local community with every bit of chocolate you eat!

 

You can find out more about the amazing work that Back on Track do for communities in Manchester over on their website and order your Ethical Easter Hamper here. All profits go to Back on Track’s projects supporting local people facing disadvantages. The last date for orders is 19th March.

 

 

Book a viewing today