Local Butcher Steps up to Support Peel’s Shared Table

A Peel community food project has been given a huge boost after a local butcher stepped in to support the scheme, simply because they believe in what it’s doing.

The Shared Table, which runs weekly community meals at the Western Wellbeing Centre in Peel (opposite the entrance to Peel Tesco), has been offered free meat by No.16 Victoria Street butchers.

The generous gesture means the volunteers behind the initiative can continue serving hearty, home-cooked meals to anyone who wants a seat at the table.

Sharing the news online, organisers said they were ‘absolutely blown away’ by the kindness shown by Simon and his team at the Douglas butcher’s shop.

They explained that the offer was made with no strings attached, purely as a way of giving back to the community.

According to organisers, Simon said the Manx public had supported his business for years and that ‘you never know when you might struggle’, adding that giving back felt important.

No.16 Victoria Street has a long history of helping local causes, having previously supported Motiv8 and supplied Christmas meat to the Salvation Army.

The Shared Table launched earlier this month with the aim of providing free weekly meals while also tackling loneliness and social isolation.

Held every Thursday evening from 6pm to 8pm, the project is open to everyone, with no referrals, no questions asked and no judgement.

Organisers have been keen to stress that it is not a soup kitchen, but a community meal.

As they told Gef: ‘You don’t have to be old, you don’t have to be on benefits, you don’t have to prove anything – we just want to feed hungry bellies without any judgement.’

Despite a quiet first evening last week, likely due to bad weather and change of venue, the project’s social media pages have seen tens of thousands of views, and volunteers are hopeful more people will come along in the coming weeks, particularly those who may not use Facebook or social media in general.

The Shared Table takes place at the Western Wellbeing Centre in Peel every Thursday evening. Anyone is welcome, whether for food, company, or both!

The menu for this Thursday looks ace – carrot and coriander soup, sausages, mash, onion gravy and greens, homemade bread and butter pudding OR chocolate brownie!

Last week’s wasn’t bad either, have a look: