Co-op Warm Spaces Funding Boost has provided £1,195 of match funding
Renew Ripon and Breakfast Club Community Project
Ripon, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Aim
We are reaching out to Ripon. Supporting families and children with Breakfast Club and adults who need space to just be with Renew Ripon.
Who are we?
STOP PRESS - Unfortunately the budget the Co op have allocated for this generous support has now been all spent! This means any future donations to our Crowd Funding Project will not attract the double funding. But everyone who has already donated did get the donation boost!
We have left this page up until 11 April so that folk who still come here can see what is happening at Holy Trinity. We still want as many people as possible to know about Breakfast Club and Renew Ripon. You might even want to come along!
We can still accept donations but we stress this will not attract double funding. We'd also like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to the Co op for their generous support. Read on to find out about our work.
Holy Trinity Church is open to all. We aim to reach out to our local community here in Ripon, to children and young people, to families and to folk of all ages and backgrounds, all faiths and none at all. We host and run groups for toddlers and their parents and carers, families with children, teen / youth clubs, and all manner of groups to enable people to come and enjoy our facilities and each other's company.
Community impact
We are continually striving to help and contribute to the community of Ripon.
We work with schools. We have a great relationship with the school next door to us (Holy Trinity Infants and Juniors) but we contribute to most of the Primary Schools in Ripon through an activity called open the book where we go in and act out Bible Stories - the feedback from the children and schools is amazing. We are also trying to develop links with secondary schools. A new major initiative at Ripon Grammar is "Urban Saints" where we provide - through volunteers and working in conjunction with the school a lunchtime club once a week. Up to 100 or so children come to this!
We aim to support families. We have two different Parent and Toddler groups, we have a Breakfast Club for families that runs during term time and we have Messy Church once a month. This latter event does have a Christian focus, but again is linked to community, family and providing a warm meal after an afternoon of craft activities and games and you certainly don't need to be a believer to come and join in.
We host self-help groups. For example we provide our premises for parents and carers to come and meet after school drop off - just to chat and natter, which is sometimes around an activity like crafting - but not always. We also host groups who are meeting to chat through more difficult life problems - we just provide the space and a cup of tea!
We are trying to support folk facing the pressures of life in the 21st Century. We offer training courses to help folk manage their finances better through one of our partners, CAP. We also hold two sessions a week called Renew Ripon - which is a place for folk to come and as we say it is a quiet place for people where it is ok not to be ok.
We want to celebrate with our community too. So for instance, for the late Queen's Jubilee, we held an afternoon tea to enable the community to come together to celebrate.
Of course, we are a church too and aim to provide for those who wish to, lots of different worship opportunities. By having a thriving church we believe we will be more able to serve our community. Loving our neighbour!
Why are we crowdfunding?
We are wanting to raise money for two particular activities we have here at Holy Trinity. These are: Breakfast Club and Renew Ripon. Both of these are outward facing and offer to our community a number of positive outcomes. We re-started Breakfast Club in 2022 after stopping this during Covid. Renew Ripon is a new endeavour we started about 9 months ago.
We want to continue to at least maintain the provision we have and if possible develop this.
Breakfast Club
Breakfast Club operates every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday term time morning between 8:10 am and 8:50 am. We have a great team of volunteers who come and set up; prepare the food and drinks, serve and then clear away afterwards. We provide: a hot drink for the adults; fruit juice; toast and spreads; cereals and a variable hot food option like Scrambled Eggs, Beans on Toast, and Pancakes. Any family is welcome to come - we do insist that all children are accompanied by an adult.
We do not make a formal charge for the breakfast - though we do ask for donations if the families can afford this. We utilise "sell by date" donations we are able to get wherever possible and rely on other financial donations and funds raised by the Church in other ways. The main benefits of the breakfast club are:
- Children are provided with a nutritious breakfast before the school day;
- Parents and carers say it helps them in getting the children up if they know they are going to Breakfast Club;
- The schools (particularly Holy Trinity) say that this helps children to get to school in good time and that they are more ready for lessons when they have been to Breakfast Club;
- The children are happy to come and happy to go on to school;
- The children are encouraged to sit around a table (friends and or families together) and chat encouraging great “family” behaviours; and
- The parents and carers get a chance to network and share their difficulties and achievements in looking after their children.
Of course this also provides a warm space and helps the families financially.
Renew Ripon
Renew Ripon was set up to help adults who are finding life tough for whatever reason. We have worked hard with other organisations and the local health providers and many of the people who now come are referrals from these other organisations. The catch line for this is "A quiet space where it is OK not to be OK."
At Renew we encourage simple activities such as completing jigsaw puzzles, knitting and other similar crafts and allow people to chat or if they prefer just be quiet. Our volunteers are on hand to listen, which is what our guests often need. Light refreshments, warm drinks and a warm space is also provided.
Renew meets twice a week: Monday over an extended lunch time and Tuesday evening - every week. The only days we don't open are on Bank Holidays. This is provided by another team of volunteers and again the church funds this. There is no charge for folk to come to Renew Ripon.
Of course, times are tough. We are seeing an increase in demand at both of these activities as the fuel and cost of living crisis develops, but conversely we are finding that our donations and contributions are reducing. For example a local supermarket was until recently donating milk to the church but unfortunately has had to stop this because they needed to make savings. Our regular cash donations are also falling.
We want to continue to provide these very worthwhile and well received community outreach activities. And, not least, to take advantage of the generous offer of match funding from the Co op.
How we’ll spend the money raised
The funds raised will be spent in the following areas:
- Heating and Utilities – our costs are increasing.
- Food – we have a greater demand now (more people coming) and we have reduced donations (both food and cash).
- Equipment – we regularly replace worn out and broken items: toasters, kitchen equipment and furniture.
- Publicity – we would like to get some banners / flags made to advertise these events better.
This project successfully funded on 11th April 2023