Team effort transforms London day centre for people who are homeless
Edinburgh
Homelessness
Mar 2018
Prue Leith opens Edinburgh Cyrenians’ Cook School after CRASH transformation.
Everybody deserves the opportunity to lead valued, fulfilling lives, so at Edinburgh Cyrenians, they tackle the causes and consequences of homelessness.
The support they offer is person-centred and relationship-based. From help gaining employment and reconnecting with their community, to managing conflict and sustaining a tenancy, the range of services are there to provide flexible support.
The Cook School, which is part of the charity Edinburgh Cyrenians’ Good Food Programme, runs cooking classes for people who are homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless.
“The programme was developed in response to the fact that many homeless people are living in self-catered temporary accommodation with little skills and ability to cook and do not have the opportunity to eat and socialise together. The programme provides basic cooking skills, help with budgeting and shopping as well as advice on healthy eating.”
Development Manager at Cyrenians
The programme also runs the FareShare Food Redistribution Project for Central and South East Scotland, delivering six tonnes of donated food a week to over 100 organisations supporting people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
The Need
Edinburgh Cyrenians applied to CRASH to help refurbish two warehouses, where they were running the Good Food Programme, to create a new eight-person training kitchen and additional space for the project.
The CRASH solution
Edinburgh Cyrenians’ Cook School, which supports people who are homeless, was transformed thanks to the generosity and dedication of CRASH Patrons A-Plant, Arcadis, British Gypsum, Buildbase, Dulux Trade and Mott Macdonald.
The purpose-built community kitchen offers a number of courses to help break down the barriers around creating good quality, nutritious meals. At the community cook school, based on Jane Street in Leith, they are acutely aware of the power of food; from the nutritious elements of a balanced diet to the joy and love shared over a hand-crafted meal. The food education courses help take the mystery out of meal prepping, planning and budgeting, helping create lifelong skills and friends.
Before & After:
How CRASH Corporate Patrons helped
CRASH Corporate Patron companies, A-Plant, Arcadis, British Gypsum, Buildbase, Dulux Trade and Mott Macdonald, alongside CRASH supporters Altro, Heckmondwike, Howdens Joinery Co, Komfort Partitioning Solutions and Lucion Environmental came together and generously provided:
- Professional expertise and construction products saving the charity an incredible £64,176 and delivering a superb state of the art kitchen.
- CRASH added a grant of £37,989 bringing the total value of support to £102,165.
The impact
“CRASH coming on board really was an incredible boon for us with the development of the Cyrenians Cook School. There is no doubt in our minds that we would have been extremely challenged to deliver this project without the support, structure, relationships and discounted or donated services that were offered through CRASH.”
Head of Business Development and Marketing at Cyrenians
”I am delighted to open this superbly equipped Cook School and teaching kitchen and to see the enthusiasm of the staff, volunteers and clients.’’
Restaurateur, chef, TV presenter and cookery writer
