M&S Cambridge

The Edge Café is a community café with a recovery heart; our aim is to provide individuals in recovery from substance misuse a safe and supportive space to meet, connect, develop skills, rebuild lost confidence and generate opportunities for positive change. We provide a visible demonstration of the possibility of recovery from substance misuse and addiction, as the people running the café are all in recovery themselves. We provide a range of arts workshops and wellbeing groups including Mindfulness and Meditation, Pilates and Yoga. Coupled with the work experience and employment we are giving people in recovery, we aim to fill the gap between treatment and becoming employed, productive and empowered citizens. The majority of the volunteers running these workshops are also in recovery. The Edge has also hosted Cambridge's only Community Fridge since 25 September 2017, since then, over 500kg of food that would otherwise have been wasted has been donated to the fridge. Recent research suggests that 61% of the food thrown away in the UK is avoidable and could be eaten if creative ways of sharing are found. The Community Fridge is an attempt to address this issue on a local scale. Anyone can put usable but unwanted food in the fridge, or take it out. The fridge is monitored to make sure nothing is kept past its use-by date. One simply weighs the food and record the exchange.

Promoting understanding and education of all aspects of brain injury and all neuro conditions and providing information, support and services to acquired brain injury survivors, their families and carers in Suffolk and Norfolk.

In an ideal world there would be absolutely no need for Red Hen to exist. But the world that we live in has named Cambridge as ‘the least equal city in the UK’. In this, our 20th year, there is even more need for us to exist than when we began. Our family workers manage large and ever-changing caseloads and deal with more and more complex issues as families face such difficult and uncertain times. Red Hen was founded on the belief that education is crucial in breaking the cycle of poverty that can exist in the socially and economically deprived area that we serve. We have always been about removing barriers to learning and working to forge good relationships between home and school. Our schools can make referrals knowing that practical assistance and expert advice will be available quickly, and delivered with sensitivity and understanding. It is no secret that there is significant pressure on all of our social care system. We provide a crucial way in for families to find the support and help they need when in times of difficulty. Ideally before things escalate to a crisis. That is our strength – early, practical, expert support when and where it is needed. The real strength of the project, of course, lies in its staff - their accessibility, their focus on listening and encouraging, their non-judgemental practical help and advice. All hugely valued by families and schools in all of our evaluations. And they do it with sensitivity, warmth and genuine care.