The Happiness Project
The Pitch
Problem statement
Sadly, today, we are living amongst a mental health crisis and a society that has forgotten the true meaning of what it means to be "Happy". There are plenty of online influencers that will tell you the meaning of life is to simply "be happy" all whilst promoting the luxury lifestyle they are living in order to "feel happy". The Happiness Project aims to put the reality back into happy, to remind the people of our community where happiness truly comes from: The little things. The support & love you can give to others and have in return. The power through creativity, when like minded people come together. Nature, art, food, connection. THP will be the bridge the gap for all of the above.
Solution
The solution is to encourage members from our community to come together, at the Chobham Manor Community Centre, to take part in workshops that are guaranteed to have them feeling happier than they did when they first arrived. The solution is to invite all walks of life into a space that is welcoming, non judgemental, safe, fun, vibrant and full of life and energy to allow people to connect with one another. To tell stories, to create new memories, laugh, sing, dance & create artwork / foods, that they can take home with them. The funding will be spent on staffing costs, hiring professional performance teachers, pay for the food and equipment etc.
Why are we best placed to deliver?
Our organisation has worked tremendously hard to create a welcoming, equal and inclusive work & community space in the Chobham Manor. We continue to advocate for equality for vulnerable members of the community and include them in all that we do, as supporting adults with additional needs is at the very core of our organisation. We believe we have reached out into a lot of different avenues of the community and our space welcomes everyone from babies / toddlers - all the way up to OAPs. We have a safe, friendly, uplifting and good energy filled environment. We believe our space needs to be utilised to its maximum potential and feel like a project such as THP could welcome every age / ability
Focus Areas
Delivery plan
Budget breakdown
| Staffing Cost (adults with disabilities included) | £2,000 |
| 10 x 2 hour hall bookings | £1,400 |
| Provider for performing arts session | £700 |
| Arts & Crafts | £400 |
| Food costs (baking in sessions) | £500 |
Beneficiaries
25 people
Expected impact
We expect that this project could provide incredible impact to a lot of the isolated members of the community as well as young people, adults with additional needs, as we plan on putting together a session 2 hours long, once a week, for 10 weeks, where we hope to build up regular attendees' who can also bring their friends along. This will be a one size fits all session, as we intend to have multiple different choices for people to want to be a part of. From singing, dancing, baking, arts & crafts, card-making, toddler play corner (for new mums to connect), board games & more. We expect attendees to be able to connect over art, favourite foods, songs, & games. Conversation and connection will be highly encouraged and these sessions will be lead by our members of staff who are passionate about engaging with the local community and building positive and loving connections with all who visit the facility. We hope to use this to promote the space even more to members of the EV community.
Track record
We are very happy with our track record of spreading awareness, happiness & positivity throughout the community with our mission at ASL Bridget's Café & the Chobham Manor Community Centre. We believe our energy is infectious and always receive incredible feedback from any of the sessions / events that we run. One of our most recent outcomes came from a young boy named Emerson, who has special educational needs and was a selective mute, until he started attending our sessions in the Community Centre. The sessions we put on gave him the space to feel free, inspired, safe and happy enough to start slowly communicating with the staff at Bridget's café. By the end of the sessions he was having full conversations with us, to the best of his ability. His support workers told us they just could not believe the growth and transformation of not only Emerson, but the rest of the class, over such a short space of time visiting the community centre for weekly, fun, happy, sessions!