Urban Outreach is a Christian Charity providing food for households in crisis as well as holistic support for some of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable adults and young people in Bolton.

The charity was established in 1990 by brothers Dave and Chris Bagley from their attic, where they first started helping the community by providing short term accommodation for young people experiencing difficulties with nowhere to stay.

They then worked together to provide an overnight winter cafe called ‘Winter Watch’ for the homeless people who slept rough on the streets of the borough.

The charity then expanded to support men leaving prison, female offenders and children missing from home.

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In more recent years, the charity has developed its work in health and complex needs, troubled families and food poverty including Bolton Lunches.

One of the charities main aim’s each year is to ensure that no child goes hungry.

More than 12,500 children are eligible for free school meals in Bolton and during the school summer holidays, families face a six-week struggle to find the money to feed their children.

In response to this crisis, volunteers come together at Urban Outreach to prepare packed lunches.

Working in partnership with churches and other community venues, the team distributes the lunches across the borough.

Currently the charity is home to 14 projects including Christmas Dinner on Jesus, Bolton Food Hub and Street Life.

Speaking about the history behind the creation of Urban Outreach, Dave Bagley, Chief Executive of Urban Outreach said: “The set up of Urban Outreach has something to do with my wife and I and our faith.

“My wife was a special needs teacher, and I was a chef, and I came to Bolton, and we met around working with young people and originally it was about young people leaving care, in those days you could leave care at 16.

“And what we did for them at 16 was we saw them struggling, so really it started there, and just this idea that maybe we could do something to support young people and it has just grown over 32 to 33 years.

“Starting out in an attic.”

To find out more about the initiatives the charity runs, go to: https://www.urbanoutreach.co.uk/

If you have a story or something you would like to highlight in the community, please email me at chloe.wilson@newsquest.co.uk or DM me on Twitter @chloewjourno.