AMURT/Food For All (the non-for-profit health food shop that's been based in Stoke Newington since 1976) is applying for a Local Foods grant to turn their basement into a community kitchen. Our aim for the kitchen is to encourage local food growers to partake in crop sharing, selling surplus produce at cost price to give low-income families access to locally grown fresh produce and for groups such as London Orchard Project to use the kitchen for social events and most importantly as a place to process locally harvested fruit into leathers, pickles, preserves, jams,cordials etc - and give lessons/workshops to the wider community in how to do these things.
It would be great to receive a letter of support on headed note paper with charity number from The London Orchards Project stating the following:
-What the London Orchards Project Is
-Details of specific London Orchards projects in Hackney, Islington, Tower Hamlets and Haringey area - size, community demographic the project reaches etc. Def mention Hackney Harvest (do I need a separate letter from them - or are they you?)
-Why London Orchards would find a Community Kitchen space useful in relation to helping people access and consume local food
-Highlight it is a need not currently serviced by other projects and what the consequences are of not having such a facility (waste of local food, not utilising surplus, no place to teach classes in processing)
-Briefly mention products that could be made using locally sourced fruit and highlight any non-sugar items like fruit leathers, bottling etc
-If you have contacts who could lead bottling, preserving, fruit leathers workshops perhaps also mention this.
If you could sign it and send it as a PDF that would be amazing. Thanks so much.
Looking forward to hearing back from you and meeting you soon.