CCP Charity in Line for National Award

CCP needs votes to win cooking appliances

CCP has beaten hundreds of projects nationwide to be shortlisted in the latest Stoves Community Kitchens campaign and is in the running to win up to ￡5,000 worth of kitchen appliances.

Caring for Communities and People, which transforms the lives of children, young people, families and vulnerable adults by preventing homelessness and promoting independence, is one of ten charities and organisations shortlisted in the Community Kitchens competition, which is run by British cooking brand Stoves to enrich local community projects by offering thousands of pounds of cooking appliances to help them transform their kitchen facilities.

Caring for Communities and People is a registered charity and is aiming to create a community teaching kitchen at the Community Wellbeing Centre in Cheltenham, to be used by people accessing its services to help improve their mental health and wellbeing by steering them towards eating more healthily. The kitchen will link to the Community Pantry, a foodbank-style scheme which diverts excess food from supermarkets and wholesalers to people in need. Clients will be allocated colour coded vouchers to select fresh, frozen and packaged food from the Pantry, and they can then prepare a healthy meal in the community kitchen, guided by a food nutritionist who will provide advice on food preparation and hygiene, meal planning, using seasonal produce, and eating healthily on a limited budget.

Dr Heather Sheridan of Caring for Communities and People, said: “The kitchen, designed to replicate a domestic setting, will be at the heart of the Community

Wellbeing Centre, providing a practical, yet warm and welcoming facility to the diverse community of disadvantaged people who access our services seven days a week. As a result of having access to a new community kitchen and healthier food, homeless young people, care leavers, young people from deprived families at high risk of homelessness, and vulnerable adults with mental health problems, will have access to quality kitchen appliances in a hygienic environment to prepare and eat food in; have a safe and friendly environment to share meals with others; increase their food skills and knowledge about nutrition, food preparation and hygiene and gain essential life skills that contribute to their independence. All of this will improve their physical and mental health and wellbeing.”

Jane Rylands of Stoves’ parent company, Glen Dimplex Home Appliances, said: “We fully believe that the heart of the home - and the community - is the kitchen, and we are therefore always keen to support charities and projects who are putting something back into their communities.

“Since the competition started three years ago, we’ve provided charities and projects with more than ￡50,000 of appliances to help them reaching the most vulnerable in their communities and we are looking forward to supporting more of these deserving organisations in the coming months.”

The public vote, conducted via the Stoves website https://www.stoves.co.uk/community-kitchen-voting-2018/ is open until Monday May 28th 2018. Full details of all the projects can be found on the voting page. Bronze, silver and gold packages worth between ￡2,000 and ￡5,000 will then be awarded to winning projects.