Volunteer Feature: Food ETC CIC
We talked to Julie Clay, director of Food etc, a Community Interest Company which provides cookery workshops to disadvantaged people across Bedfordshire. Its growing team of volunteers uses cheap and nutritious food to show people how to prepare and enjoy healthier meals.
Why did you set up Food etc?
Initially to help address the obesity crisis which is particularly concerning amongst children. However, since we started working with a variety of groups it’s clear that cooking and eating together brings wide ranging benefits including physical and mental health improvements and a sense of community and belonging. Knowing how to use food better can cut costs as well providing an enjoyable and productive activity for disadvantaged families and others.
What have been the challenges in getting a new social enterprise up and running?
We were due to launch in April 2020 and with a large part of what we are doing being about getting people together this wasn’t possible during the height of Covid! We kept going to some degree virtually but we have been limited with what we could do with families in schools until the bubbles were finally lifted in September 2022.
Tell us about some of the highlights?
Seeing children and their parents having fun cooking together and then eating with others sharing stories and generally just having a good time is very rewarding.
Being awarded funding meaning that people with much more experience than us can see the value in what we’re trying to do has been really encouraging
Getting some lovely emails from schools, parents, and others about the benefits our cookery workshops bring is really gratifying too.
What would be your top tips for someone planning to set up a charitable organisation in Bedford?
Talk to people to see how you can work together. Regardless of how good your idea is, it’s unlikely you can make it work without partnering with existing successful charities and other organisations.
Take advantage of the support that exists. For example, the advisors at CVS have been invaluable and are also extremely well connected to other organisations.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Companies and others are often only too pleased to help good causes.
If you were starting again, what would you do differently?
Not start at the beginning of a global pandemic! Other than that, not a lot as we are really enjoying our journey and the setbacks have been ways to gain more knowledge, which has made us stronger going forward. Even if that’s not what we said at the time!
If someone wanted to volunteer for Food etc what skills and attributes would they need to have?
An interest in food and some basic cooking skills that you’d enjoy passing are the main things we are looking for. You don’t need qualifications or experience but a sunny disposition and a bit of resilience for when things don’t quite go to plan are needed.
We can guarantee you’ll meet some interesting people, join a great group of volunteers and will be helping families and others to improve their health and wellbeing.
If you’d like to find out more take a look at Food etc Bedford on Facebook or Instagram and if you’d like to see whether becoming a Food etc volunteer is for you call Julie Clay on 07970 115181 or email juliec@foodetc.org.uk for an initial chat.
You can also register an interest for Food etc on Simply Connect. You can use the system to express an interest in an opportunity and the organisation will get back to you and tell you how to take things forward.
To talk further about volunteering, or if you would like some help using our Simply Connect Platform, then please do get in touch.
tel: 01234 354366
