Make Lunch in Portishead

“We’d lost everything.” That’s how Tanya and Sean describe arriving in Portishead with their sons, Devon (14) and Kaiuss (5), after losing almost everything.

Although Portishead appears affluent, poverty can be hidden. When the family moved into a small flat with very little, they faced an uncertain future. “Things were very desperate,” says Sean. At their local food bank, they discovered TLG’s Make Lunch club, which soon became a lifeline.

Make Lunch provides cooked breakfasts during the school holidays, but it offers much more than food. It creates a place where families can connect, belong and find support. “There’s a need to be fed, a need of community, a need to be wrapped around people who will listen to you and help you,” says Reverend Lindsay, who runs the club.

For Tanya, that sense of belonging was life-changing. “I felt so, so lonely,” she says. “But then coming here and becoming part of this group that are helping people definitely has changed everything. It gives me something to look forward to and something to focus on.”

Devon has also found friendship and connection through Make Lunch. “I think I’m happier afterwards and for the rest of the day,” he says. “I think it brings everyone together, where you can just sit down and have someone to speak to.”

Through the relationships built at Make Lunch, the family has found wider support, opportunities to volunteer and renewed confidence. Today, the community they discovered feels like an extension of family. “It’s given us a strong sense of direction that we didn’t have before,” says Sean. “It’s given us a new strong backbone to build back from.”