Derry's new affordable food shop 'The Network' opens

The Network, Derry’s new, affordable food shop, has been officially opened by Deputy Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council Alderman Darren Guy.

Situated at the junction of Strand Road and Baronet Street, The Network is the latest initiative of Foyle Network Foundation - formerly Foyle Foodbank.

Ald Guy said he was delighted to be present at the launch.

“I think it is a great idea,”he added. “It is a really positive step forward for the Foyle Network Foundation and the whole city. With the wraparound service that it provided in the past, this next step.

“There is always that stigma around food banks but there are people who may be on benefits but also the working poor as well and single people and elderly people, who are on fixed incomes, and places like The Network will help them and allow them to come along and buy food cheaper than they can elsewhere.

“We know the cost of living is through the roof these days. It has left people in very precarious positions.

“I think The Network is a great idea and long may it continue,” said Ald Guy.

Ellen Harper, who manages The Network, said the affordable food shop was “the next step” for people who had been using the food bank at Springtown.

She explained: “We want to build people up and offer them that wraparound support to get them back on their feet, rather than move people from the food bank services straight back into the community, the bigger supermarkets. Due to the price increases, it is a lot for people to move straight into that.

“The Network is designed to create a step down service where people could slowly integrate back into that way of living again and slowly but surely build that resilience to transition into the bigger supermarkets.

“The Network is just like a normal shop. Our customers pay for everything here. They come and they choose what they need. Everything is individually priced but the prices of all the products in the shop are up to 50% cheaper than the normal supermarkets. It gives people the sense of pride that they are paying for their goods.

“We also continue to offer that wraparound support here as well, through the shop. That doesn’t just finish when they finish down in Springtown. It is like a small community here.

“People come in and it is very, very relaxed, very informal. We are able to build those relationships with the embers that come into the shop, through conversations every week.

“We are able to identify if there are specific issues that somebody might need help with or they might ask for help,” said Ms Harper.

The Network can help people with benefit reviews, or applying for a discretionary payment for furniture if they are moving into a new property.

Deputy Mayor Darren Guy at the official openng of The Network - new affordable food shop - on Strand Road, with Karen Mullan, manager, Foyle Food Bank, Ellen Harper, project co-ordinator, and on right, Helen Cooper, shop supervisor.

“We have also had people in The Network who need help with housing advice, and we can get them linked in with housing support services,for someone to advocate on their behalf, in the town. We have a lot of families here as well. Sometimes it is just offering that listening ear and a lot of people still don’t know that the health centres in the town have multidisciplinary teams now, and sometimes it just takes a wee phone call there and it lifts that burden.

“We also have counselling services through the GPs or we do offer that as well in Springtown.

“The Network affordable food shop is a referral service. We are seeing a lot of people here that are working families, it is not just people who are on benefits.

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“There is a need for this kind of service, sad to say, where it is not just about free services, it is people who are on low incomes.”

Also in Derry for The Network’s official opening, Emma Reavie, the CEO of Trussell (The Trussell Trust) described the project as “incredible”.

“Foyle Foodbank, as we know them, is just extraordinary, supporting the community, making sure that people are able access affordable food, ensuring that people aren’t having to come to a food bank because they can make ends meet, is just exceptional. It is really exciting to be here,” she added.

“Foyle Foodbank is one of our ‘gang’. We are a community of food banks and an anti-poverty charity and we have been working with Foyle over many years. It is one of our pathfinder food banks - a pioneering food bank, looking at new ways to support people so that nobody has to come to a food bank to get by.

“We want to be part of supporting all of its innovation and all of its creativity, so it is a real privilege to be here.”