HelloFresh Grants Awarded

News item first posted on: 02/08/22

This summer we’ve partnered with HelloFresh to support SF&G members to run activities that help educate consumers about food and encourage more sustainable habits. In July we awarded three community projects in Edinburgh, Sheffield and Birmingham with a grant of £1,500 each and one project in London with a grant of £5,000. Find out more about them and how they plan to use their grant money below:

Balsall Heath City Farm – Birmingham 
Balsall Heath City Farm offers educational and recreational opportunities on their farm. The farm grows fruit, vegetables and flowers and has a small nature pond. They also have fruit trees, are developing a community gardening project and starting a compost scheme that aims to teach people how to compost and reduce their food waste. 

This grant will go towards funding their Cooking Club for adults who struggle with isolation, mental health and financial hardship. The farm has a new Yemini women’s group and an older men’s group who also want to incorporate cooking into their community groups. It will offer them a space to socialise, cook together using farm produce and learn from one another. 

Cyrenians Community Garden – Scotland
Cyrenians Community Garden offers hospital patients, staff and visitors, as well as local residents, the chance to take part in gardening, landscaping, food growing and therapeutic learning programmes. Their vision is to create a space for communities to grow together, with a particular focus on creating a space that is inclusive for those who might face barriers to being involved in such activities due to a range of complex needs.

This grant will enable the project to host monthly cook ups for volunteers and patients in their outdoor kitchen space – providing a space to learn, cook and socialise together. They plan to deliver two seasonal events for up to 250 people to promote seasonal, healthy eating using the produce from their gardens each season. They plan to create recipe cards for each attendee to take home and replicate the delicious, seasonal meals at home. 

Sage – Sheffield 
Sage Sheffield run therapeutic horticulture groups on their allotment. This is a space for those struggling with their mental health to meet, make friends, garden and cook together. Their site spans three allotment plots where they have raised beds for members to plan and plant their own garden, sit quietly or chat with friends. 

Their community allotment serves the second most deprived neighbourhood in Sheffield where incidences of mental and physical illness, poverty and unemployment are high. This grant will go toward paying for their 16 week course in therapeutic horticulture – contributing to staff, volunteer, and allotment costs, seed purchase, compost and gardening supplies. 

Sufra – London
Sufra NW London works on the front-line in the fight against hunger and poverty whilst also offering a wide range of services and community-based activities that empower individuals and families to overcome impoverishment and social isolation. Their community garden – St Raphaels Edible Garden - provides a therapeutic space that invests in the skills, health and wellbeing of local people whilst improving the appearance of the estate and giving residents an opportunity to come together, have fun and grow food. 

This grant will enable Sufra to pay for a nutrition expert to promote healthy eating over six weeks, exploring where they can grow more varieties of food, promote talk and taste tours, look at ways to use fresh produce to prepare lunches and use their brick oven to cook healthy pizzas. It will also go toward projects that will encourage growing at home, reducing food waste and eating seasonally. 

 

Many thanks to HelloFresh for partnering with us in our mission to support local communities to grow, cook and eat together – we can’t wait to see these exciting projects come to life!