A charity which supports vulnerable and homeless young people in Richmondshire has received a welcome boost to its healthy eating initiative from The Lions Club, Teesdale District.

The Galleries, operated by Foundation UK, is a hostel in Richmond providing self-contained flats to support 11 children and young people who were at risk of homelessness.

Amid the cost-of-living crisis and increasing food poverty, staff are keen to help the young people budget their food expenditure, promote healthy eating, and develop cost-effective ways of cooking to manage soaring energy costs.

Staff and clients at The Galleries were delighted to meet Sue Barron, secretary of The Lions Club, Teesdale District, who donated four air fryers which will be key to reducing electricity consumption and will also allow the young people to create nourishing meals.

Rachel Hunter, service manager at The Galleries, said: “We are most appreciative of the Lions Club’s generosity which will help enormously in meeting normal day-to-day running costs for our young people.

“We are planning a series of regular cookery groups to highlight the benefits of buying healthy ingredients, avoiding food waste, as well as creating meal plans, cooking from scratch and batch cooking to assist with budgeting.”