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Surplus Food Grocery Update
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Our Surplus Food Grocery is still going strong! We have been averaging around 100 households a week at our grocery and around 70-80 households through our delivery scheme, around 57% of these being from on the Moss Estate which is an increase from pre-lockdown!
From the 24th of July we have wound down our delivery scheme. During the peak of lockdown we had two teams out 5 days a week delivering to around 150 households, and we’d like to give a huge thankyou to all who got involved with this delivery scheme over the past few months. We’d also like to thank organisations like the Town Council and Cheshire Community Foundation for their grants which enabled us to purchase things such as extra PPE, cleaning equipment, and fuel. With lockdown now easing we are asking that people instead begin attend our Surplus Food Grocery so we can once again focus our time and energy into this. We follow strict social distancing and hygiene practices at these groceries to make sure all who attend are kept safe.
Alongside this, we have recently began accepting contactless payment with our new card machine! Not only does this make the process easier for our staff (counting money can be time consuming!) it also means we can keep contact to a minimum, helping to keep both staff and the community safe.
Head on down to our Grocery at St Barnabas Church, Lyme Avenue, on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1pm!
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Our Youth Work team has been working to do safe activities with small groups of young people in the past few weeks. We have been doing activities in the garden of the house 3 nights a week, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Our boys group have decided over the next couple of weeks to help with the revamp of the back garden at the house. This is of course weather dependent, and it has not been kind to us, however so far they have weeded and are currently in the process of building some planters to make a herb/vegetable area. Our girls have been looking forward into the next year coming up with some fundraising ideas to start from September. The groups run with social distancing in place. We set out stools 2 metres apart and all activities are outdoors with minimal equipment which is cleaned at the end of every session.
As well as this we are currently planning for the Summer and hope to run some small group activities outdoors through the holidays as well as engage with new young people from around the estate. We’re looking forward to it!
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This month we received an incredibly kind donation from Macclesfield Harriers of £297.90 in memory of Terry Neild who sadly passed away. In his memory, the club decided to host a race and donate the proceeds. Here are the kind words we received from Terry’s partner Emma:
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"In October 2018 we lost a wonderful and loved man, who believed in the local area and community in which he grew up. Terry lived on the Moss estate since birth and throughout his school years, during that time solidified many friendships and learned many life lessons.
Terry went on to become a qualified engineer. In his own time, he volunteered as a special constable at was assigned to the areas in and around Biddulph. He also volunteered at his local running club; Macclesfield Harriers, supporting events they organised and joining in club activities enabling him to continue his love of running and the outdoors.
During his shifts as a Special Constable, he built up trusted relationships with the teenagers and young adults within the area he was assigned; and encouraged them to speak out about their ideas and frustrations.
Terry had time for everybody and was loved by those he knew and met. He had a natural affinity with young adults, and where some steered away from these groups, Terry remembered his childhood experiences and was always ready with a ‘hiya mate’ to break the ice.
In memory of Terry, Macclesfield Harriers created a new (and rather challenging) race which incorporated areas around Macclesfield Forest where Terry loved to run and the money from this was to be donated to a charity.
I truly believe that if Terry could have chosen where the money raised from this should have been donated he would have chosen Cre8 as it is the essence of everything he believed in. Terry's race (Terry's High5) was a huge success and those who raced either knew Terry personally or knew of him through his love of running. Hopefully the money raised from this event will go some way to help those within the local community; who would benefit from the experiences this could give them."
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We’d like to say a huge thank you to Emma and the Macclesfield Harriers for making this amazing donation in Terry’s memory, and we will make sure this money is put to good use within our projects here at Cre8.
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Our young people have been out on the Moss Estate this week taking doorstep photographs of families across the estate, capturing life in 2020 in its simplest form.
This endeavor was picked up on by Peaks and Plains housing trust who want to collaborate on this with us! We will be once again doing the rounds taking some more photographs in the coming weeks. So keep a look out for more of this soon!
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Summer Youth Music Concert 2020
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Our Summer Youth Music Concert is an annual event here at Cre8 and is something which staff and young people alike look forward to. However, with lockdown regulations, a live performance was not feasible this year.
Due to this, we have decided to move this year’s concert online and will be streaming it tonight at 7pm! The concert preparation has been great fun. Many young people have planned and put together things they want to do, and others have come forward simply wanting to just come to a familiar place and play music after so long. Our music team have been working tirelessly to record, edit, and film everything so it's ready to showcase tonight. We hope that the concert will be a reminder to those young people who haven't been involved with the project during lockdown that we are still here and active, and inspire them to take part in sessions in September.
To watch this years Summer Youth Music Concert, head on over to the link below at 7pm!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yd7D3UrEu0&fbclid=IwAR1AUYBw5jON_-sDs83XLitEK28S1MLO6L17gz90d_VozLfDYpEnjYmvIkk
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As lockdown and restrictions ease, we're looking forward to the day we can finally restart our youth clubs again! Whilst this is not yet confirmed and will be dependent on government regulations, we're planning ahead and looking for new volunteers for when that happens.
If you would have any interest in volunteering at our primary or secondary clubs, please do get in touch!
Tel: 01625 503740
Email: hello@cre8macclesfield.org
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