Hello team 500, we hope you are well and wish you a happy Wednesday.
Food is essential to everyone, but especially the young and the old, and it’s shocking that the use of food banks has risen enormously in the past 12 years but there are always amazing people and who rise up to help. Our nomination this week is from Denise and highlights how that kind of kindness can grow and turn into such a well used and now very needed community service which we are very happy to help this week.
The nomination is below:
Dear Friends,
I am nominating the Adur Community Cafe in Southwick, West Sussex. The cafe is a brilliant initiative set up up by Cat Arnold and her comrades to give a hot meal once a week on a pay-what-you-can bias to people in their community who are struggling, but they now do much more than that and are an essential community service. Cat has set up a crowndfunder page to raise much needed funds to help continue their work. https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/adur-community-cafe-fundraiser . John Baines, aka Attila the Stockbroker has asked if 500 reasons can help them. He did an online crowdfunder gig the other evening to help them. https://www.facebook.com/attilathestockbroker/videos/418335394390045
This is the Adur Community Cafe’s story:
"In 2023 we provided 1323 meals to our community, this was a 52% increase from 2022.
We have been in operation for over 3 years, we provide a nutritious and hearty meal and pudding every Friday night from our Southwick based cafe and we deliver too.
We provide food to all, those who can pay do and effectively "pay it forward for those who cannot". Our mission is to forge friendship through food and we work to overcome social isolation, provide a warm space to those who cannot afford to heat their homes and create a space for intergenerational friendships. Our customers range from a 6-month old to an 83-year-old.
We are an employer, paying a number of chefs and an administrator, we are supported by 4 founding directors and 20 volunteers. Every year we provide a Christmas meal to over 40 people, these customers would not enjoy a Christmas meal without our support.
But the last year has been extraordinary tough, all costs have escalated our: salaries, food costs, insurance and marketing costs. Food costs have jumped between 10-20% and we are concerned of the impact of the upcoming customs delays to EU imported food stuffs. We've got busier, but people's ability to pay has reduced.
Here's a highlight of what we have done over the last year:
- energy advice session to 25 cafe attendees
- Christmas lunch to 40, with music, Father Christmas and gift for children
- Esteem youth charity and cafe guests games night - pure intergenerational work
- Provided 1323 cooked meals
- Created recipe binders and menus of our meals to customers
- Provided work for 4 chefs and 1 administrator (Living Wage Salary)
We now need your help for fundraising please, your monies will go towards food, rent, insurance, marketing and insurance costs. Your monies will help assist the running of the cafe, which is needed more than ever.
Here is a recent review: "Great service. Lovely people and have met some wonderful people coming here and so glad I did! It has helped me with my anxiety and mental health. Just to get out of my flat is wonderful. I cannot thank you all enough"
£5 a meal for a customer
£10 a meal for two customers
£60 rent for one cafe session
£120 rent for one cafe session and wage of chef for night
We thank you so much for your support. The Adur Community Cafe team”
Many thanks and love,
Denise
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