Aviva Community Fund provided £933 of match funding
The Dandelion Project
Nottingham, England, United Kingdom
Aim
To create a ‘safe-space’ for women to explore creativity and positive wellbeing practice, as we transition out of lockdown restrictions.
The Sugar Stealers are a team of 5 unique and creative women with combined experience in entertainment, mental health support and community projects. The organisation was started in 2019 with the purpose of breaking down barriers that affect deprived communities in order to encourage healing and progression.
The Dandelion Project was designed to support the wellbeing of women from different back grounds, ages and ethnicities who were experiencing a range of disadvantages and challenges, that, due to lockdown were heightened, to include; life threatening illness, domestic violence, bereavement, mental health issues, unemployment, PTSD, giving birth and pregnancy.
With the end of lockdown restrictions inching closer and the tragic news of Sarah Everard's murder, we decided to bring the project forward to launch in March 2021 to help women heal and empower each other as they re-join an uncertain world.
We created an online ‘safe space’ for women to attend daily wellbeing & creative workshops in; creative writing, dance, meditation, cooking, drawing, sewing, bee keeping, poetry etc all designed by women for women, with the aim of providing a platform for them to share stories, journeys, experiences and learn new skills which in turn enabled them to build confidence, connect with others and reduced isolation.
The need, demand and reach were beyond all expectations. We connected with over 542 women who joined us from the UK, across Europe and all the way to India, the USA, and Canada. We created a platform for a united voice that gave women of all ages a way of expressing and channeling, thoughts, feelings and emotions. Both the practitioners and participants reported that the project helped them get more active, more creative and more social and have expressed an improvement in their wellbeing and confidence . The boxing workshops were very popular as women needed to express concern and anger and feel they were doing something positive to increase their confidence and control over their fears.
With your support we can continue to nourish this growing community of women who, through sharing and creating, are committed to making positive steps back into 'normality'. This funding will enable The Dandelion Project to connect with even more women around the world, continue to offer workshops and help cultivate an environment where women feel safe to explore and express themselves without fear or judgement.
This project successfully funded on 16th June 2021