Charity turns to crowd-funding for new van

Tuesday 06 March 2018

Beresford Street Kitchen, which provides training and employment for 30 adults with learning disabilities or autism, is turning to crowd-funding to raise £8,500 for a van to deliver sandwiches and cakes around the Island.

Run by the Aspire Charitable Trust, which aims to give disabled islanders a helping hand in society, the café relies entirely on the generosity of islanders to operate. It provides pre-employment work placements, traineeships and an apprenticeship scheme under the wing of a team of seven support workers.

The café also provides practical experience in a wide range of catering and hospitality operations including customer service skills, barista skills and food preparation. In partnership with Highlands College, BSK also enables apprentice to gain catering and hospitality qualifications.

Picturing: Part of the catering team with their sandwich platters.

The BSK team prepares fresh food on the site every day. The café recently gained its alcohol licence enabling customers, including corporate ones hiring out the upstairs room, to enjoy a glass of wine or a beer with their food. Recently the café launched corporate platters and outside catering for private parties. Lunch platters, cakes and sandwiches are all prepared in the catering workshop located above the café. But so far, the team has only been delivering them by foot.

To take up more orders and be more productive, the team is looking to buy a van. They are appealing to the generosity of islanders to help raise £8,500 for the vehicle. The recently-launched crowdfunding page has already brought in £590 so far. With nearly two months before the end of the campaign, Natasha Gallie, BSK's fundraising and social media coordinator, is hopeful the target will be met.

She told Express: "Having a van to do deliveries will allow us to take on more business. Every penny made in the café goes back to BSK. More money means that we can help more people with learning disabilities and autism. We do not receive funding by the States so it is really important to be able to buy a van to be more productive. If we are able to buy the van it will be decorated to say it has been sponsored by the kind people of Jersey."

Pictured: The BSK team sizing up their desired van.

Lyn Wilton, Administrator at the Association of Jersey Charities, said that, to the association's knowledge, this is the first time one of its members is turning to crowdfunding. Every three months, the association brings a UK charity specialist to run a workshop on social media and e-fundraising for Jersey charities. They also teach technology novices how to use emails and social media.

Ms Wilton said: "Social media is amazing for charities. It helps reach every industry and every corner of the island. I cannot promote enough how good it is. My job has exploded in the past eight months as I am getting so many more connections through so social media. I found that through Twitter I was able to connect with high caliber trustees for charities as well as supporters. More people have become aware of us through social media. It is fantastic, it does so much good for us."

Ms Gallie added: "It is important for charities to move with their time and use every tool to connect with sponsors and supporters. We are glad to be the first to use crowdfunding as a way of funding our charity. It is brilliant as it gets shared among people and it only needs to reach the right person who will be able to give a large sum."

Video: Express met Beresford Street Kitchen workers Cassie, Christy, Ryan and Leroy, who spoke about what they've learned from the experience of working there.

Ms Gallie said: "We have 57 reviews on Facebook and they are all five stars. People always say how happy they are coming in the café. They say it is a welcoming and friendly environment, for everyone, able-bodied or not. They say our customer service is second to no-one and they always feel at home. We are one big family!"