Getir Deptford

The community centre is based on Middle Park estate, a local authority housing estate in Eltham. The centre is often referred to as the heart of the community. Our day starts at 7am when we open to provide breakfast for some 60 + children and young people. Children have a healthy, nutritious breakfast that helps to set them up for their school day. We collect children from school, they have the opportunity to do their homework, take part in activities and are given a hot meal. When the children go to school there are a wide range of activities for older people, we have a community café serving hot food four days a week. Older people are able to meet up and take part in activities, this helps combat loneliness. People are able to access a wide range of information and support at the centre, or just a cup of tea and a chat when it’s needed.

COOH helps children, young people and families across Lewisham, Southwark, Lambeth and Greenwich strengthen their wellbeing, confidence and stability through trusted community programmes and practical support. Come Out of Hiding – The Lighthouse Network CIC (COOH) is a Christian organisation and we welcome and serve people of all faiths and no faith. Founded in 2015 and incorporated as a Community Interest Company in 2018, we provide safe, welcoming spaces where people can connect, receive support, learn new skills and take part in opportunities that may otherwise be out of reach. Our programmes include: • Let’s Get Messy – creative, wellbeing and movement activities for children aged 3–10. • STEPs: Let’s Level Up – mentoring, employability, enterprise, financial capability, leadership and life-skills activities for young people aged 11–17. • Let’s Get Moving – physical activities, community trips and family experiences. • Let’s Talk – mental and emotional wellbeing conversations and safe spaces. • Let’s Get Fed – food, basic essentials and practical support for households experiencing hardship. • Let’s Be Light (for those who choose this) – Christian leadership, volunteering and community social action. We also provide community drop-ins, family forums, community meals, seasonal holiday activities, employer visits, work experience and signposting to other services. Our whole-family approach recognises that children and young people are more likely to thrive when their parents, carers and wider household are also supported. COOH has delivered more than 6,700 participant hours and has built trusted relationships with local residents, community organisations, NHS services, housing providers, businesses and funders. The support we need most includes surplus food, toiletries, household essentials, school supplies, clothing, refreshments and materials for our activities. We also welcome volunteers who can support youth and children’s sessions, community drop-ins, food distribution, mentoring, employability workshops, events, administration, fundraising, communications and professional advice. Financial donations help us respond when a family needs urgent assistance, cover activities and travel for children and young people, provide welcoming community sessions and ensure trained staff and volunteers are available to deliver our work safely.

We opened Evelyn Community Store in Deptford on 26th February 2019. We are in one of the most deprived London boroughs and our aim is to reduce food poverty and the stigma attached to it. The community store offers an alternative to a food bank and ensures members have food each week. It’s run by local volunteers in partnership with Lewisham Homes and FareShare which consists of chilled, frozen, fresh and ambient stock. Members visit the store once a week, pay £3.50 and receive a range of groceries, provided by Fareshare, but we also understand that their is a greater need in the fight to combat food poverty, so any surplus food we are able to obtain is given out free. To be a member of the store you have to either be a family/person or couple on a very low income, or be in receipt of benefits and struggling to pay your bills. We have 85 members and already have a waiting list. The project has made us realise how difficult it is for people on a low income to ensure they are eating at least one meal every day. Whilst our aim is to provide food for our members we have become increasingly aware of how isolated many of our families are. It is almost the festive period and we are hoping to pair up with a store local to us so that we can ensure as many families as possible have food over the Christmas period for a least a few days if not more. It will mean so much to our members to be able to take food home and know that they can eat well and will let members know that they are not forgotten about during the festive period and hard times. Our members consist of young single parents, young couples single people all ranging in ages, as well as the elderly and people who are disabled. Also if there is any chilled foods we can transport them safely in the chill boxes we have.we are currently feeding over 500 mouths a week, and the need is growing week by week. It has had a massive impact on what we do as and how much we give out.