To celebrate Small Charity Week VONNE are proud to highlight the crucial work being undertaken by our network of small North-East charities around food. In the current cost of living crisis with demand on their services increasing we all need to support and celebrate the positive impact they have on people’s lives.
On Tuesday 28th June National Academy for Social Prescribing will host their national webinar entitled Health Inequalities: Wellbeing through Food, exploring the role social prescribing can play in supporting health and wellbeing through food - ranging from food poverty and hunger to confidence and cooking skills. Fundamentally this type of health and wellbeing improvement via social prescribing cannot succeed without the thousands of small charities working across the UK to address food poverty by helping to feed the public, reducing food waste and supporting local communities to grow, cook and eat better. For more information on this event and to register, visit Eventbrite
The North-East has an amazing network of grass roots charities and not for profits, tirelessly working in partnership to address local needs and at VONNE we strive to support the voluntary sector, helping them to develop capacity, influence, stronger partnerships and greater resilience.
Our sector is extremely diverse with food banks and low cost community shops, community larders and fridges, projects sharing surplus food, pay-as-you-feel community café’s (such as the fantastic REfUSE Café in Chester Le Street and The Magic Hat Café in Newcastle) who also provide volunteering and training opportunities. We have the award winning Sprouts Community Food Charity in Stockton, who use cooking to bring communities together, and Barefoot Kitchen in Middlesbrough who deliver food growing, cooking and sharing initiatives to the community, including marginalised communities, and many more.
These organisations are about so much more than food. They provide places of solace and security, care and support, opportunities for social interaction, friendship, and provide volunteers with purpose. They also campaign for and advocate on behalf of those they serve, helping ensure the voices of those most in need are heard. This Small Charities Week we highlight the work of these fundamentally important small charities and encourage everyone reading this to think about how we can support them. Why not go for a family meal at one of the pay-as-you-feel cafes, donate items to your local food bank, or pop spare food into your local community larder or fridge.
We can all help.