Community Cafe and Community Fridge in Hednesford

Hi, my name is Debbie, and along with Helen and Carl, fellow founder members, and our team of volunteers, known as our 'BEACONS', we run the Chase Lighthouse Community Group.

 

Chase Lighthouse are a constituted community group established in December 2018 where our journey began in Beecroft car park Cannock, supporting the homeless and vulnerable with a weekly soup kitchen. We still provide a support service to local residents, rough sleepers and vulnerable families, by means of food and furniture support, as well as working alongside the outreach team at CCDC supporting rough sleepers. My colleague Helen supports domestic violence families when they are re-homed, re-establishing them in their new location, networking furniture for them to have a home again. I then provide a food hamper from donated food to help them through. For the last 2 years and throughout the pandemic our soup kitchen progressed to a community food table every Sunday at a local community centre, reaching as many as 70 people each week, thats not counting the emergency food parcels we supply discreetly behind the scenes, giving access to surpluses of fresh fruit, vegetables, cakes, pastries and ambient food we have sourced from local supermarkets through the Neighbourly and Fareshare schemes, also including donations from our wonderful members on our Facebook page. 

 

Due to demand, we are now opening a Community Cafe and Community Fridge in Hednesford, Market Street to be known as The Lighthouse, which will also be the Hub for our community group, Chase Lighthouse. Membership for the cafe will provide free or pay-as-you-feel, meals, drinks and groceries to our community that find themselves in a situation where they are struggling to feed their families in these troubled times. The Community Fridge will be landmarked with HUBBUB Community Fridge Network for Hednesford, this will stock fresh fruit, vegetables, and ambient foods sourced again from local supermarkets and donations from members of our Facebook page. Membership also gives access to all our services at the Hub, however, we welcome all to The Lighthouse without prejudice. We are a safe place for our service users to come to, and will soon be registered as a 'Place of Welcome' with Support Staffordshire once our training is complete. 

 

Until now we have been running these services from our homes, and due to the demand for support we have secured the tenancy on this cafe. In order to bring this service to our community effectively and professionally we will need financial support. Training for volunteers, food hygiene, allergens etc, fixtures and fittings, overheads, maintenance of the cafe to the FSA regulations, housekeeping, and PLI insurance. 

We will also be networking with other local services ie. CAB, HOUSING, DWP, MENTAL HEALTH TEAMS plus many more, we are open to suggestions, as events for our community, from The Lighthouse. So we are hopeful that you can help us on this exciting journey to bring this much needed service to Hednesford, and surrounding areas, with our team of exceptional volunteers.

Thank you