Cooking Champions Volunteer Recruitment & Training
1
The Pitch
Problem statement
Enfield is a borough in outer London that has high levels of poverty and deprivation. 1 in 3 children in Enfield live in poverty and one in five adults have low or very low food security. Residents in Enfield's most deprived wards (like Ponders End where Cooking Champions is based) are likely to live seven years fewer than their wealthier neighbours. As a small charity, we are able to offer support to those in need of food support via our foodbank, free hot meal provision and free to access cooking lessons. However, to do this we rely on volunteers to support our small team.
Solution
We need to recruit and train more volunteers to ensuring the high standards set by the charity are upheld and our recipients protected. It starts with needing to advertise for the specific positions which include; volunteering in the foodback, doing deliveries, cooking in the kitchen , supporting in the kitchen (washing up, taking orders etc.), gardening and many more. We then invite people in to see what the charity does on the kind of shift they'd be working, we explain in detail the requirements of the role, we complete the necessary paperwork (DBS, food hygiene & allergen certificates etc.) and then provide detailed training regarding the rules and processes, health and safety etc.
Why are we best placed to deliver?
Cooking Champions is an established local charity that has a dedicated kitchen, continuous foodbank (twice a week, 52 weeks a year), free to access cooking lessons. However, to be able to provide all these free to access services we need well trained, effective volunteers. Whilst a member of staff will always be on site it is the volunteers that often lead the interactions with recipients. Seeing a familiar face, having them time to sit with them and talk is a vital part of providing a safe space for people to visit. We rely heavily on our volunteers and need to increase the numbers to ensure that we can continue to provide the valuable services that are much needed within the borough.
Focus Areas
Delivery plan
Budget breakdown
| The advertising, recruitment and training of volunteers needed to continue to deliver the much needed free to access services. | £2,000 |
Beneficiaries
300 people
Who will benefit
Expected impact
By having a wider, skilled set of volunteers Cooking Champions is able to continue to provide the essential services. We currently support 250+ people in our food bank each week, we provide 150+ free hot meals at our community lunches each week. For many people access to these two services is vital to their mental and physical wellbeing. As the demand for our services continues to increase we need to grow our pool of volunteers to cope with the demand.
Track record
Each year we create a year in review which contains all the figures and achievements of the charity (see our social media channels). We are just preparing the 2024 achievements but 2023 consisted of: - 7010 meals made in our community kitchen - 6342 bags of food distributed across north London - 400+ children and adults received cooking lessons - 12 primary and secondary school collaborations - 60+ active and dedicated volunteers