Our goal is to continue providing community lunches and providing catering services, working in partnership with other local groups and  bringing all members of our local community together regularly with a focus on alleviating poverty, reducing social isolation and enhancing mental health and well-being. 

Our community group offers  free  lunches,or takes small donations, to all residents within Irvine, many of whom are affected by poverty, poor mental health, and social isolation and these lunches provide a vital lifeline, offering not only nourishment but also a sense of belonging and connection. These meals foster social interaction, breaking the cycle of isolation and helping improve their mental well-being.

In addition to the lunches, having a trained chef as a volunteer the group now offers an external catering service to partner organisations at cost which generates income, enhancing the sustainability of the group and allowing the group to continue supporting the community. Volunteers who help run the lunches and catering service will receive essential training in areas such as REHIS (food safety), hospitality, barista skills, first aid, and customer service. These skills not only equip volunteers to support the efforts but also enhance their employability and confidence, empowering them to make a meaningful difference in their community and benefiting them in other areas of their lives.

In order to achieve this the money provided would help with running costs for the lunches and provide external training for volunteers.

Breakdown:

Running Costs, including food and caretakers costs                         £500.00

Training and admin costs                                                                   £500.00

Total applied for                                                                                £1000.00

Some children, through no fault of their own do not go to school with a full belly and we as a parent council would like to remedy this but also provide information to the children on the topic.

The way we would plant to do this is would be to launch our 'Breakfast feeds Minds' campaign.  It would be our intention to provide the children in the school weekly breakfast hampers, available to any child who needs it, to ensure they have something healthy and nutritious before their school day begins.  This would include granola bars, cereal pots, yogurt drinks and fruit etc that the children can grab easily but will keep them full until lunchtime.

The funding we are applying for would be broken down as follows

£900 for the purchase of breakfast items (this is based on a budget of circa £35 per week)

£100 for the procurement of literature to promote the importance of breakfast and how this feeds the health and wellbeing of a child

Christmas party for children age 0-10. 

Hire of Santa - £200

Selection boxes -  £300

Small gifts -  £300

*This is based on previous with approximately 60 in attendance. 

We would use the funding to take all the Pegasus group members on a 2 trips over the next year to bowling and a summer fun day. This would be a real boost to the mental health and wellbeing of all the group members and provide an opportunity that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford. Going away on trips allows the group to bond closer together and link up with each other.

The outing will help improve the mental health and wellbeing of the group members and we will have a higher bus cost due to needing one which is accessible for wheelchairs. Having this outing will improve the lives of people in the local area who have additional support needs and support them to do an activity which would be very expensive otherwise. Going away on trips like this allow group members to form closer relationships and get to know each other better. It also improves the mental health and wellbeing of participants and volunteers who run the group by going away on trips like this.

Breakdown;

£500 bus hire per trip x 2 bus trips

TOTAL - £1000

£70 hall lets

£400 catering 

£160 music 

£80 publicity 

£40 misc/cost of living increase 

The event is to inform older people in community of services and activities available in the area including networking within the community.

A great social aspect event in the community.

In conjunction with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) and North Ayrshire Council Music Services, Music@Wellwood would organise a Vocal Masterclass with staff from the RCS who can provide guidance, technical advice and possible progression pathways into music for the young people taking part which may include encouragement to join local choirs. 

Opportunities such as this have proven to strengthen access to music within North Ayrshire with young musicians supporting community groups and continuing to work within the community and schools promoting music as a career path and as an important educational tool which can continue to be a lifetime benefit. 

In addition to an afternoon Masterclass in the Wellwood Burns Centre & Museum, the young people would be invited to attend an evening performance in Wellwood. 

Provision of the afternoon Masterclass would cost £350.    Attendance of 10 young people (approx. number) at the evening performance in Wellwood would be £100.

Afternoon refreshments for the young people attending the afternoon Masterclass £25.  Any costs associated with the use of the Wellwood Burns Centre & Music would be met by Music@Wellwood.