The Alice Cross Centre is a busy community centre in Teignmouth and food is at the core of its services, with a meal delivery service four times a week to older people with limited mobility at home, daily lunches, and a community cafe within the centre.
The centre was struggling to increase its capacity to deliver meals with the old kitchen and wanted to be able to meet the demand for its services. The kitchen was mostly 20-30 years old, a mix of domestic and old stainless steel commercial units. The main gas range had been condemned and the extractor system was below modern standards. A new kitchen would have better working zones, storage, more energy-efficient units and enable the chef and volunteers to work more effectively, with new sinks, dishwasher, and range. To achieve this, the centre approached Valencia Communities Fund for £48,000.
It has enabled the centre to start producing home-cooked, affordable nutritious meals for their service users whilst providing another income stream for the charity. They are also attracting new rental users for the kitchen too, for cookery courses for adults with additional needs and for the local school’s enrichment week and to cater for events and parties.
“The grant we received from Valencia Communities Fund for a new commercial kitchen was a lifeline for the Alice Cross Centre. We are incredibly grateful to Valencia Communities Fund for providing us with this grant which has helped us and our community in so many ways. Thank you.”
Jacqueline O’Brian, General Manager of The Alice Cross Centre