With hopeful hearts and open hands, we believe that there is always enough to go around. We tread gently on the earth that feeds us and draw together a big-dreaming community who share the vision and help us run the café day-to-day. We’re a non-profit café, and the beating heart of St Peter’s House day-to-day – for us, this is what chaplaincy looks like.
Our food is vibrant and nurtures body and mind, and our small-but perfectly-formed menu is offered alongside cockle-warming hot drinks and beautiful bakes created by our volunteer team.
Milk & Honey is a special place. People say they feel calm when they visit, we think there’s something in the air… there’s space to breathe, to be together, to eat and drink well.
Early 2020…. with the rest of the world, we reeled…..
We thought long and hard. But when we imagined the place of community that we love re-made as a socially distant café with a side of anxiety with every americano, we knew it wasn’t right.
It was time to get creative, and serve our community in a new way for a while.
And so, for now, we’re doing something different…The Well. We can’t wait to re-open – and will do as soon as we can do in a safe and meaningful way – but for now we’re busy meeting the massive needs that have been highlighted by Covid-19.
Over the past three years we’ve worked with hundreds of volunteers from all over the world! Many have been students from the Manchester universities, and many others have been from a range of partner organisations and charities. We’ve provided trainee placements from young people who’ve not had the same opportunities in life as others, have retired volunteers who bring a wealth of experience to our team, and even have some volunteers who began as students and are now lecturers on the University staff!
We provide placements through partner charities, and are currently working with the Depaul Trust, Pure Innovations, and Work Fit.
“Milk & Honey is a welcoming community café, where both the customers and the volunteers are friendly and lovely. The atmosphere is great and I love volunteering there! I’ve gained more confidence in my communication skills, as well as work experience and have learnt new skills such as making coffee. If you are looking for somewhere to volunteer, I would definitely recommend Milk & Honey!”
“After working in Milk & Honey for a while, I gradually feel that this was one of the best decisions I had ever made. It is difficult for an international student to integrate into a different cultural society, especially a student from another part of the earth. But by working in Milk & Honey, I made a lot of friends and had a lot of happiness, especially a sense of acceptance. Thank you for taking care of me!”
We are always happy to welcome more volunteers into our diverse team. We all learn alongside one another, and no experience is necessary.
We offer basic training in hospitality, customer service, kitchen hygiene and cooking skills which will all be valuable assets in the times ahead. Alongside this, we offer community and support, the most valuable resource of all.
To find out more about volunteering in Milk & Honey when we re-open, or any other of our volunteering opportunities, please get in touch:
Love what we’re doing at St Peter’s House? Want to keep connected and find out about what we might do next?
Sign up to our Newsletter and we’ll keep you updated with our plans, thoughts and musings. On top of this we’ll send you our tastiest new recipes from The Well – all freshly devised and waiting to get onto the Milk & Honey café meu when we re-open – and new classes, podcasts and blogs as we create them for our Wholeness programme! We’ll also let you know about any opportunities to volunteer, future Milk & Honey café news, and ways you can support us in our work.
