Opinion: “Friendliness, Energy, Kindness and Sense of Community”
Nourishing Norfolk is a programme from Norfolk Community Foundation that tackles food insecurity while helping communities grow stronger and more connected. It uses food as a starting point to build long-term resilience.
An independent evaluation by the University of East Anglia followed the programme for 11 months. Researcher Dr Sarah Hanson and her colleagues visited hubs across the county, listening to members, staff and volunteers. Their findings show that alongside tackling food insecurity, the hubs reduce loneliness, build trust and spark lasting change. Sarah reflects on her experience…
“I have been involved in health for over thirty years, originally as a nurse with a focus on community health and prevention and now as an academic at UEA. During that time, there have been whirlwinds of change in health, which is often confusing to the public – as well as to health professionals! But what is really striking to me is the importance of community and human connection. This has not changed, if anything we need it more than ever.
Our research evaluating the impact of the Nourishing Norfolk programme for Norfolk Community Foundation enabled me and my fellow researcher, Anna Sweeting to visit Social Supermarkets across Norfolk. And what did we find at The Cabin, The Pantry, The Shelf and all the other hubs? That people were accessing food at a price they could afford with a great array of vegetables, fruit, bread, dairy products and eggs etc. That in itself is remarkable, as many places are awash with food deserts (poor access to good food) and food swamps (lots of access to poor quality and fast food), but I guess we were expecting to find something along those lines. What was more striking in the 11 months of our work was the friendliness, energy, kindness and sense of community in these places. Unlike queuing in a soul-less supermarket, shoppers were greeted by their name and “welcomed like a friend”. In a busy world where people might not get noticed, one of the shoppers said to us, “here I am not just the lady in the wheelchair”.
Community connection is vital for people and places to thrive and flourish. Being OK with being alone is fine, feeling lonely is another thing and impacts our health and wellbeing. Lots of shoppers told us that they chatted to people who they hadn’t realised lived in their village or street and this in turn led to people looking out for each other in their neighbourhood. In too many places this has been lost. Many of the hubs also have social opportunities with a cuppa and a chat. These are often used as an opportunity for other services to visit for advice sessions. Most importantly, staff and volunteers are highly trained to notice when people ‘are not themselves’ and need some extra support. Not only are they a ‘whole army’ of new shopkeepers they are also compassionate people who care about their communities and recognise that small acts of kindness go a long way. We heard many stories of people really being down on their luck, who were encouraged and given confidence by hub leaders and volunteers. Many went on to volunteer themselves or had the confidence to go back to work or start new training.
What Norfolk Community Foundation do really well, is that they do not dictate the ways these hubs are run. Indeed, each hub we visited had a different essence, which really reflected the needs and strengths of their community. Again, after many years of working in health, we too often tell people what to do and set up services that we think people and communities want, rather than channelling the strength that is already there and responding to their unique needs.
We felt really privileged in being commissioned to do this work. We worried that people might not want to be involved, but we were welcomed with open arms – and a lot of cups of tea! We spent many hours collecting data and observing what went on as well as running focus groups and interviewing people in private. We hope we left a legacy that involvement in research is a good thing, that people do have a voice. We are really grateful to people for sharing their experiences with us.”
Dr Sarah Hanson, Associate Professor in Community Health, School of Health Sciences, University of East Anglia
Dr Sarah Hanson is as Associate Professor in Community Health within the School of Health Sciences at UEA. She offers expertise across a number of fields, including preventative health and poverty, food and housing insecurity, health literacy and community research particularly amongst under-researched groups. She has a particular interest in taking an Asset Based approach to Community Development, focussing on what makes us well.
