The St Andrew’s Community Cafe in Wythenshawe have doubled their sales from last year! In fact, they have approximately doubled their sales every year so far.
By 1.30pm on 13th November 2024 they had already cooked and served 30 toasties, 6 bacon sandwiches, 5 baked beans on toast and about 40 hot drinks. By that point, they had also used 20 loaves of bread to try and restore the toasties stock! All of this was achieved with volunteers in a homemade kitchen, in some space carved out from the lobby and the Church. Note that none of the Cafe volunteers come from the Church congregation.
Due to the levels of poverty in Wythenshawe, the prices are kept very low (£1 hot drink with refill, £1.50 toastie etc). Despite that, a profit is being made from the Cafe.
The biggest challenges are running out of space for people in the Church building, not enough time slots for groups and the car park which frequently has people queuing on the road to get in! The Cafe is open 4 days a week (with up to 30 people queuing to get in in the morning), and they expect to increase to 5 days a week in the new year.
The Church is now busy 7 days a week with 3 worshipping congregations, a prayer meeting, a bible study, an ecumenical youth club, a parents and tots place of welcome, a fantastic Emmaus charity shop, an NHS Mental Health Arts project, 3 weekly art groups, community choir, Friends together over 50’s, coffee morning, youth drama club, inclusive Saturday club, foodbank, a monthly Dementia Café and daily food collection from Pret at Manchester Airport.
For a while, they didn’t think they would be able to reopen after the pandemic lockdowns. God is amazing!