Hiya! I'm Julia Morton Founding Director of The Haven in Stonehaven.
If you want to suss me out further you can read more about me here and a case study of my work here.
But this crowdfunder isn't about me. It is MUCH bigger than me. It is about the 50 Haven Helpers volunteering. It is about keeping our doors open so we can keep our vision that no-one in our community goes hungry. We want to turn food waste into nutritious meals, experience into employment, dreams into ACTION for the benefit of the community.
WHO WE ARE
The Haven is a not for profit community wellbeing space in the heart of Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire. Prior to the pandemic we did some incredible things for our community's wellbeing focusing on early intervention and prevention of mental health from our yoga studio, healing room and mindfulness room.
WHAT WE DO
During lockdown we continued our track record of showing up for our community and transformed our yoga studio into the Haven Community Food Larder to address the rising levels of food insecurity. We only managed to do this because we had a whole tribe (nearly 50!) Haven Helpers, volunteers, who mostly comprised of like-minded people that shared our vision that no-one in our community should go hungry.
HOW WE HELP
Since we opened the Haven Community Larder in May 2020 we have had;
- Over 3,044 visits to The Haven Community Larder (remember there are often families being fed behind every visit!).
- 395 parcels delivered
- 1260 donations
- 107 shifts (496 volunteering hours)
- Reduced food waste with daily collections from the two Co-op stores
- Partnerships with many local businesses as well as Foodshare and Fareshare
WHY WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT
We, like many, are now facing financial reality of the pandemic. We are crowdfunding because there is absolutely no funding for for rent and operational costs. Believe us we have tried. Without funding, we need to start planning to close the larder doors, leaving vulnerable people in our community stranded.
Now is not the time to say goodbye. We need 6 months operational expenses to keep our doors open for the people in our community who now depend and trust us.

We don't believe that anybody should be left behind, by pledging your support you're helping us provide a place of comfort and reassurance to the people in our community who need it the most.
We will honour every penny you are able to spare for our crowdfunder. We appreciate all the support in helping us get this far and spreading the word about the work that we do.
MORE INFORMATION
If you would like to find out more about the community larder and the impact it has had on our local community, then please click here or email me. [email protected]
Keep well,
