As part of a collaboration with Heart of Worcestershire College SEN department, a group of 12 students will be preparing a lunchtime meal for approx. 30 service users at our Worcester day centre every week.
The students will take it in turns to serve up the food and get to know Maggs and our service users to see what support we provide as part of their work experience.
This week was the launch of the project and on the menu was Vegetable Lasagne and Pear Crumble for pudding. The pears were brought in by one of the students as he wanted to make sure they were used from his home.
Tracey Yapp, one of the lecturers from Heart of Worcestershire College, explains: “This fantastic collaboration provides valuable work experience for the learners, and they will all be given the opportunity to obtain a level 2 food hygiene certificate, to help with future employment in the hospitality industry.
The hope for the joint project is that we can help students build initial skills for the working world, whilst giving them an insight into vulnerable lives and homelessness. Additionally, as a college we promote sustainability and ensure that we maximise any waste and any surplus food that cannot be used for the lunches, will be used to make chutneys and pickles which will be sold to raise funds for Maggs.”
The project also is in collaboration with Alistair McMinn from Young Farmers who approached Top Barn Farm, who will be providing a lot of the produce, alongside Fairshare who have agreed to share surplus food with the project. We have also been very fortunate to have received generous donations from members of the public.
As a charity, we currently provide cooked breakfasts for rough sleepers and those in temporary accommodation every morning in both their Worcester and Malvern open-door day centres.
Throughout 2023, our Worcester Day Centre welcomed 287 unique visitors to access our services, whether this be for food, support or their clothes washing and drying facilities and showers.
Ewa, our Day Centre Operations’ Manager, confirms: “It was a delight to welcome the students and kickstart this really exciting collaboration. Our service users have been excited to have a hearty lunch and it makes even more special knowing the planning and passion that will be going into every meal each week.
Those small gestures truly can transform someone’s life and give them something to look forward to, so we cannot wait to see what happens in the next few months!”
f you would like to donate to our project, we have a dedicated link via Paypal.
If you would like to get involved in this collaboration, please email info@maggsdaycentre.co.uk.
