Choices Community Shop currently has over 500+ households registered to access a food with dignity approach to addressing food insecurity in the local area. With an equal divide of families, couples and single people, the cost of cooking food is a worry for everyone. With winter approaching and the cost of living ongoing, many households have told us that they are worried about whether they will be able to heat and cook this year. 

Choices Community Shop would therefore like to purchase food and containers to be able to prepare healthy, nutricious "ready meals" that households can take as part of the offer within the food larder. These meals will be suitable for heating in a microwave thus reducing the households cooking costs.

Food for meals: £800

Food Safe Containers: £200

Auchengate, and in particular Dundonald Crescent, is home to an abundance of wildlife, beautiful views, and families with young children. Our committee members, with the help of those families, contribute a very diverse mix of skills and experience, and are coming together to help our residents by volunteering time, services and knowledge to improve and enhance the look of our estate, whilst building relationships and community spirit. Due to the cost-of-living crisis and the cost of garden maintenance equipment, such as lawnmowers, many of our residents cannot afford the extra expense that comes with garden maintenance, or simply do not have the time due to working whilst supporting young children, or the knowledge to use such equipment safely. This is where DCERA can help.

We would like to purchase two items for our community.

1. Currently, a member of our committee volunteers his time to cut the grass on the front and rear gardens for 25 out of 76 properties within the estate. He generously does this with his personal old mower which is not reliable or fit for purpose for this capacity of work on a weekly basis. We are looking to buy a new mower from a local company that will provide us with great aftercare and a service plan, to be used by two members of the committee to share the responsibility and workload. DCERA will also be covered with liabilty insurance.

2. We intend to buy a good quality, heavy duty gazebo, that will be bespoke made with our DCERA logo. This will be used regularly at events within our estate and further afield for fundraising, drop-in sessions, community barbecues, boot sales, sports and games, and a whole host of other uses.

Cost of Lawnmower - £450

Cost of Gazebo - £600

About 2 months ago we started manually burning signs onto wood, which has proven to be a sucess with the community and we now wish to purchase a wood burning machine (PyroprinterX) to do a more professional job in a much quicker time, we will also need a laptop/ computer to run the softwear.

PyroprinterX and softwear £629.00 (including postage) plus £118 expected Inport Duty, as it is manufactured in Ukraine - £747.00

Laptop/ Computer approx £500

Total expected costs £1,247

New communal instruments i.e. drums - £500 Hall let hire - £100 Uniforms for young people - £250 Tutoring from professionals - £150 Total - £1000

Having new equipment would allow the band to take on more beginners and give more young people the opportunity to take part in the band. We have some New Scots in the band and would love to be able to take on more to share the culture of Scottish music. People from all over North Ayrshire come to the band and its an opportunity for people to link up and get to know new people and make friends. In terms of mental health and wellbeing, we have some people in the band who suffer from PTSD, elderly people and some who are socially isolated.

The pipe band is really beneficial for the volunteers who build their confidence running the band and getting this funding would mean a lot to us in terms of increasing capacity and learning how to do more things with the band. We work with other voluntary organisations across Irvine to provide pipers for special events at a discounted rate and also refer people to the band who want to learn a new instrument.

Our recipe book will be a collection of simple recipes aimed at reducing waste, saving money and encouraging families to cook together. We aim to partner with other local groups within Irvine and Christmas initiatives to give this book as a gift and inspire families to make exciting food with a minimal budget. We believe it is possible to have healthy great tasting food and not pay a fortune for it and we want to excite people about making more with what they have. We can also combine the cookbook with a video or it can be used as part of an in person class and for the partners we work with on this can offer a set of seasonings to build on cooking knowledge and skills. These classes will be held in the new year when money is even tighter and can be done in conjunction with the existing warm spaces and local community groups. Good food can benefit families in numerous ways, promoting both physical and emotional well-being. Incorporating good food into family life involves not only choosing nutritious ingredients but also creating a positive food environment that emphasises balance, variety, and moderation. We hope that this cook book and classes will foster a healthy relationship with food and promoting its role in family unity and well-being.

Project Costs - £700 Publication Costs – 200 x A5, Spiral bound, 32 Pages Full colour £120 - 20 x Seasoning Packs – 3 packs of 40g - £2 each  £100 - 20 X £5 – Food for cooking classes.£20 – Recyclable bags

laguna 14/12 bandsaw bundle including bandsaw, 4 blades, mobility wheel kit and sliding mitre. Total cost incl delivery £1581.88, the excess being paid from Shed funds.

BABCA who are a group of volunteers elected to run the Towerlands community Centre with assistance from the local authority have run family events in the area which have been very sucessful. This year BABCA wish to encourage adults and older people back into the centre for a free social event in the evening. The committee want to hold a Saturday evening event turn the centre into the wild west. We had a monkey survey and Country music won over the sixties seventies and eighties. The event date would be the 24th of February 2024 the live country band would be Stateline a local band which usually packs out local venues in the Irvine locality. The committe wish to have a free chuck wagon giving away pies and beans or mushy peas. The bar would also be run by Towerlands Bowling club who are another local club run by volunteers who are situated next to the Centre. We want people through the doors in February as we are trying to organise a Community and memorial Garden situated next to the centre and wish the Country and western evening event to promote the garden project and see if we can get volunteers to assist in the garden which we are in the process of trying to secure funding for. BABCA want to grow fruit and vegetables in the garden for their Community food larder the Farm Basket. We will also do some fund raising on the night for the larder  with raffles, cowboy bingo and a silver dollar so all the events feed into each other. The cost of our event is as follows

Stateline Country band £450   Pies Beans and peas paperplates knifes and forks tablecovers £200    Hall decoration Flags, bunting £150   hall let £94   tickets x100 flyers leaflets/posters £106

We would like to host a community dinner for the wider Irvine locality with the aim to bring all the local groups representatives together and to conduct a discussion and survey to record what they feel the current issues are facing older people across Irvine.

The dinner will feature a keynote speaker on a topic related to current issues.

Breakdown:

• Hall hire £68.90
• Catering £800
• Table Settings, invitations & Decoration £100