WELLNESS HUB AIMS
The Wellness Hub at St Laurence’s church in Chorley, Lancashire provides the local community with various weekly services primarily led by a large volunteer team.
The Hub provides a warm space where everyone is included and welcome and through this is able to have a transformative impact on the local community. Many visitors face challenges such as food poverty, homelessness, debt, and poor mental health and the hub is a vital resource for those in need. A recent community survey confirmed that the services are having a positive impact on lives.
The Hub provides people with an opportunity to connect and access the specific support they need. This leads to improved health, new skills, improved confidence and self-esteem and a reduction in isolation and loneliness.
WELLNESS HUB COMMUNITY PROVISION
- Open Table: Free hot meals every Monday (50 weekly)
- Taste Café: Free café Tuesday-Friday (2000 monthly covers
- Emergency Food Parcels: 50 weekly deliveries
- Weekly mental health drop-ins by a qualified coach
- Life Skills & Money Management Courses
- Support Groups: Dementia, grief, and cancer support
THE PROJECT
The community kitchen is currently not adequate enough to serve the current needs of Taste Café & Open Table which is seeing increasing numbers on a weekly basis. The environment and fabric in and around the kitchen are in desperate need of repair and upgrade with flaking plaster on the walls (due to water damage from the roof), inadequate storage and a lack of electrical sockets. Cooking facilities within the kitchen are also inadequate with no oven and only portable hotplates present.
In addition the roof directly above the kitchen requires major remedial work to prevent further water ingress which during a recent downpour in July 2024 caused the building to close due to the amount of water pouring through the roof.
FUNDING SHORTFALL
In January much of the work was planned and due to go ahead then in January this year the government announced changes to the Listed Places of Worship Grants Scheme which has sadly left us with HUGE funding shortfall. The scheme, first introduced in 2004, previously allowed for listed places of worship to reclaim VAT on their repair projects. However the change to this scheme in January has meant that the amount which can be reclaimed has been capped to £25,000 per place of worship (for 12 months only at this stage) leaving us in the regrettable position of having to drastically reduce the scope of what can be achieved impacting not only the church but the community it serves.