Here’s what’s happened in January

Southwark Foodbank featured in BBC’s Universal Credit: Inside the Welfare State this month. We held our first Foodbank Friday of the year at London Bridge Station on Friday the 31st January and were pleasantly surprised by a very generous day of giving. Peckham Pantry is seeing consistently high numbers of members shopping every week and we have had interest from a number of visitors who are keen to see what we do at the Pantry. We featured in the BBC One Show at the end of last month. Hourbank is launching a new cafe this month in Camberwell!

Employment Support is continuing their program of training and helping people prepare for employment The Women’s Service has started a reading group, as well as the Freedom Programme. In Lewisham, they continue the healing trauma workshops in the Lewisham hub. Events Pecan has secured a number of places in sporting events this year to raise funds for our ongoing work

Southwark Foodbank

On Tuesday 4th February, the BBC aired Universal Credit: Inside the Welfare System on BBC Two. The episode followed a number of people on their journey through Universal Credit. One of the people they followed, Declan, made use of the Southwark Foodbank and we featured for a few minutes in the episode. We highly recommend you watch if you haven’t seen it already. It was a close up view of people navigating Universal Credit and their stories are a powerful reminder that we need to make a change. On Tuesday, 21 January, One of our Volunteers, Shirley, made her second appearance on the BBC One Show where she spoke about the Foodbank and also about the Peckham Pantry. You can catch up the episode here.

At our very first Foodbank Friday of the New Year, we raised an incredible £2430.56. We’ve seen a jump in donations since starting using a contactless reader, so if you ever see us and you’re not carrying cash, you can still donate! We’re also so encouraged when people approach us and say that they’ve been expecting us so that they can donate and we’re starting to recognise regular faces every month.

Peckham Pantry

The number of members using the Pantry on a weekly basis is now up to nearly 60 members per week. The number of people signing up every week is also increasing, which may be due to added publicity we received from one of volunteers, Shirley, appearing on the BBC One Show on the 21 January. You can catch the episode here if you missed it.

We are seeing many more visitors to the pantry, coming to see what the project is about and conducting research in the sessions. We have had to increase our food orders to meet the rising numbers of shoppers and estimate that we provide food for around 160 people per week, when looking at the average household benefiting from the shop.

HOurBank

New Community Cafe

HOurbank is launching a new community cafe this month, at the Rachel Leigh Community Hall at 32 Andrews Walk, SE17 3JQ. We are excited for the launch an dhope to encourage many people to join in and find a new community of friends through HOurbank.

Book Club

Hourbank’s Bookclub has been going swimmingly. Starting with Of Mice and Men, the grooup has been meeting regularly on Thursday mornings and reading and discussing together. The sessions are FREE. If you wish to continue, we will invite you to join HOurBank

Please email hourbank@pecan.org.uk for more information and to register your place or see the website for more information.

Employment Support

The employment team has been hard at work, chasing job outcomes and the team have been doing more outreach in the last month. We are currently running a 4 week SIA training for clients. The waiting list for the next course is open, so if you are interested in that, please email admin.fw@pecan.org.uk. We have a couple of upcoming training courses this month and next month:

Food Safety Training will take place on 28 February 2020 First Aid Training will take place on 13 March 2020 Health and Safety Training will take place on 20 March 2020

Women’s Service

At the Southwark Women’s Hub, choir sessions have started up again as well as a new reading group. The Women’s Team are running the Freedom Programme, a course to support women through the trauma of domestic violence. At the Lewisham Hub, the team launched a healing trauma workshop, which is continuing this week.

Events

This year, Pecan is happy to have secured places in a number of sporting events to help raise funds for all the work we do in our community. With each place, we ask that the participants raise money to support us and will help in any way we can to help you reach your goal, so don’t be put off by the fundraising side!

If you’re interested in taking part in any of the events Pecan has lined up for the year, please get in touch, we’d love to ave you get involved. Spaces are limited, so secure your place soon! [if !supportLineBreakNewLine] [endif]If you have an event that you are taking part in and would like to nominate us as your charity, and for all event related enquiries, please get in contact with carey.evans@pecan.org.uk.

Vitality 10 000

25 May 2020 Take in the City of London and City of Westminster on one of the most scenic 10K runs in London 10 places available Deadline to sign up: Wednesday, 29 April 2020 Prudential Ride London Surrey 46 Mile

15 August 2020

Enjoy traffic-free cycling through London from the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park through London, finishing at the Mall. 10 places available Deadline to sign up Friday, 29 May 2020 [if !supportLineBreakNewLine] [endif]

Prudential Ride London Surrey 100 Mile

16 August 2020

Follow the 100 mile route from Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park through Surrey countryside, finishing at the Mall 10 places available Deadline to sign up: Friday, 29 May 2020

Regatta London [if !supportLineBreakNewLine] [endif]20 September 2020

Kayak, canoe, paddle board 12 miles or row 14 miles through the heart of London in one of the most scenic events London has to offer. Places TBC Deadline to sign up: TBC

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