Christ Apostolic Church (UK) Charity no 274154 – Harvesters Kitchen Bags of Hope Project

Press release
Date 23rd November 2020

Christ Apostolic Church (UK) Charity no 274154 – Harvesters Kitchen Project  which aims to improve the quality of life of the vulnerable and less privileged people in East London has received a share of £9.5million of National Lottery funding to help recover from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The £10,000 grant has been awarded through the Covid-19 Community-Led Organisations Recovery Scheme (CCLORS). The scheme is led by independent trust Power to Change in partnership with Locality, The Ubele Initiative and Social Investment Business, and was part of The National Lottery Community Fund’s Coronavirus Community Support Fund, that launched in May this year.

The funding assisted Christ Apostolic Church (UK) Charity no 274154 – Harvesters Kitchen Project to refresh our Food bank to increase its capacity to meet the increased in demand from the less privileged in the community who are adversely affected by the impact of Covid 19. These vulnerable people include homeless, the elderly, those in low income and unemployed etc.

We provided emergency support for these vulnerable people. We organise weekly distribution of basic food essential food items in small bags called “Bags of Hope”. The bags also included basic other essential items e.g., socks, toiletries to our service users
We also provided information and advice to service users and signpost them to other organisations and government department that could provide additional support to them to resolve the underlying issues they face including joblessness, heath issues and homelessness.
From the beginning of June 2020 to date we have distributed over 1,500 Bags of Hope and the number is rising on a weekly basis.

We deliver our services in Hackney Borough which is a deprived local authority in England with high proportion of Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. There is a high level of unemployment, homelessness, and other social challenges within this community.

Unfortunately, this disadvantaged group bear the brunt of the COVID 19 crisis’s impact and are in need of urgent support to minimize the impact of this pandemic. They have suffered from poor nutrition, have unaddressed health complications and underlying health issues and no safe place to self-isolate from other people due to the type of accommodation available to them.

The Minister in Charge of Christ Apostolic Church (Bethel UK) Prophetess Fadeke Omideyi said” This fund has enabled us  to respond swiftly to the need of our community by reshaping our  Community feeding and support project to provide “Bags of Hope” to those mostly affected by the lockdown.
The funding is timely as it has enabled us to continue our crucial work and to deliver more services to the needy in the community at this very critical time”.

In total, 302 community-led organisations have received a total of £9.5million through CCLORS to help recover from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. The total includes 205 community organisations led by, or that support, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities.

Vidhya Alakeson, CEO of Power to Change, said: “Whilst Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on people right across the country, it has disproportionately affected Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. By bringing together this strategic partnership, we’ve ensured this much-needed financial support is reaching those communities that need it most.”

Our Bags of Hope project is continuing, and we have seen continuous increase in demand for our weekly distribution from the vulnerable people in the community. The current demand exceeds our financial capacity and every additional fund or support will enable us to meet the additional demand at this critical time. We anticipate further increase in demand for our services due to the impact of the second lockdown and the winter weather on the vulnerable people. If you would like to donate or provide additional support, please visit our website https://cacbethel.org/dev/contacts/

ENDS

About Christ Apostolic Church (Bethel UK)

We are a Pentecostal Church established in 1974 to cater for the needs of the community and to transform the lives of the less privileged in our community. We are passionate to show the love of and care to our community through charitable activities which impact and transform the lives of all particularly the less privileged ones in our community. We aspire to carry out activities and various Community projects for the prevention and relief of poverty in our community.

For further details of our activities, please visit our website at cacbethel.org. If you want further details, please contact us at secretary@cacbethel.org.