Author: Anthony Irtelli

YMCA YAC Brighton have opened a Youth-Led sustainable social grocery store for anyone aged 16-25, living in the Brighton and Hove area.

The aim of  the Food Market is to support young people in accessing healthy, low-cost foods and shopping products at a simple one-stop shop. It is an easy way for young people who struggle to afford the rising cost of goods to access locally produced fresh foods and supermarket surplus, as well as providing a modern and sustainable approach to food waste and food poverty.

The Food Market is not a foodbank but there are supported memberships for people who have previously used one or who are in a food emergency so they can access food for free and in a positive and empowering way.

The Food Market has been set up in partnership with Brighton & Hove City Council, Brighton & Hove Food Partnership, FareShare Sussex, Neighbourly, Brighton & Hove Food Factory, and Sussex University.

How does the Food Market work?

Young people pay a small weekly membership fee, and in return they will be able to access fresh, local produce and stock cupboard items.

Young people can visit the Food Market on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays between 3pm-5pm at 11 St Georges Place, BN1 4GB.

How much does it cost?

There are two tiers of membership to the Food Market:

Our YAC-Extra / Solidarity Memberships are suggested donations of:

• YAC-Extra Small Shop – £6 – (15 items)
• YAC-Extra Large Shop – £8 – (20 items)

For those struggling to make ends meet, are unemployed or long-term sick, have debts preventing them meeting their basic needs or need support from the government or other services, then the Standard Rate Membership is available:

• Small Shop – £4 – (15 items)
• Large Shop – £6 – (20 items)

Additionally, members are charged a £1 sign-up fee, once a year.

YMCA YAC will work to provide grab-bag free meals to those who are in need, supported by funds raised from others paying membership or solidarity fees. These meals will support our community of young people who may be rough sleeping, in emergency accommodation, young families, or other emergency food needs.

Where does the food come from?

Most of the food at YAC Food Market comes from high-quality surplus or donated supplies. Some of the food will be provided through donations from local businesses, and some from Fareshare (a national organisation who redistribute surplus and excess food to community schemes).

Some of the fresh fruit and veg, dairy products and eggs are provided by Brighton and Hove Food Factory, a non-profit organisation providing locally sourced fresh produce to local communities. The supplies are supplemented by buying certain items to make sure there is always a good selection available.

Solidarity at YAC Food Market – What does it mean?

YMCA YAC will be striving for equity and solidarity at our Food Market. Our aim is to ensure that everyone has access to the same food regardless of their situation, functioning on the understanding that some in our community might need more support than others.

Project Worker, Lucy Fox, and Deputy Projects Manager, Mel Haynes, with the help of some of our young residents, created a corner in the Y Centre, where our residents can go clothes shopping for free. The Exchange Shop promotes recycling, reusing and rehoming preloved clothes and accessories. The shop also provides some of our young residents, who struggle to afford to buy clothes, with the space to pick up the perfect interview outfit.

Many of our young residents have got involved in the Exchange Shop project, including, one young resident who created a poster and the ground rules for using the shop. The clothes get rotated regularly by the shop manager (a young resident), sorted and then donated on to other people in need.  Lucy, Mel and the team are working to ensure young refugees are well dressed for the cold weather to come as well as networking with other charities to have items shipped across the world.

The shop have received donations, rails and hangers from the local community, but they are still looking for more donations. If you are tidying up your wardrobe and would like to not only do something good for the planet but to help a young person too, you could donate your pre-loved, new with tags and high street items to the Exchange Shop. Any donations will be gratefully received!

You can drop off your items to YMCA Horsham Y Centre Albion Way, Horsham, West Sussex RH12 1AH.

YMCA Dialogue counsellor Hannah Peckham has recently published her second book to help younger children understand and celebrate their differences – Climb. We caught up with Hannah to hear more about her new book…

 

Tell us a bit about yourself and your role at YMCA DownsLink Group…

I did my first placement with the YMCA when I was training back in 2012. I have since volunteered at a school once again with the YMCA and then got the role of canine assisted therapist with my dog Casper. I have worked in different locations across west Sussex but now because of other work and family commitments I work one day a week with 11- 18 year olds. Unfortunately, in the current circumstances poor old Casper has to stay at home.

Tell us a bit more about Climb…

Climb is a story about a little forest elephant who just wants to fit in but on her journey to ‘be the same’ she learns that being yourself can be very special indeed. It has a back cover endorsement from the lead author of development matters, Julian Grenier, Director of East London Research School (lead author of Development Matters 2020, the Department for Education’s non-statutory guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage). The book is also good play guide recommended.

Climb is the first new release I have published under my new imprint little bodhi books. It has been quite a learning curve for me it has felt really apt at times that it’s Hettys story that I am navigating this journey with.

Climb is a story about a little forest elephant who just wants to fit in but on her journey to ‘be the same’ she learns that being yourself can be very special indeed.

Where did the inspiration for the book come from?

I was diagnosed as a classic severe dyslexic at the age of five. Growing up I found this quite a challenge and still to this day have to find ways to work around it. The quote ‘If you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree it will spend its whole life feeling stupid’ planted the little seed and climb grew from there. Unfortunately, whilst writing Climb, I had to research this quote and found that it wasn’t by the person believed to have said it which scarpered one of my ideas somewhat.

Climb focuses on the strong messages of difference and uniqueness, what in particular do you hope readers will take away from the book?

It’s so easy to draw comparisons to others and focus on the cannots. I want to help children think about what makes them different and what positives they can draw from this. Is there a role model they can look at and what people might admire about their difference and what they might admire in someone else. The pages at the back of the book hope to help consolidate the social emotional learning to recognise and celebrate being yourself.

The elephant in the story struggles to find their place in the world, much like some of young people we support. What advice would you give to young people about embracing their own individualities?

Sometimes it’s hard to embrace our differences. I often felt cross about my dyslexia, it felt unfair. I found things so much harder than my sister, the judgment that came with it, the feeling of shame and embarrassment. Recently I was talking to a friend who said they had gone to art college on a scholarship and all the other people in the class were dyslexic and he was so envious as he thought it was this amazing creative gift that made you think differently. This shifted my perception.

Finally, what response have you had to the book so far?

The response has been so wonderful. It always makes my heart smile when I get a message from someone. It has been a bumpy road with challenges along the way getting Climb into the big wide world, so any reviews on amazon or shares I receive mean the world to me.

Find Hannah on Twitter and Instagram.

On Friday 5th November, the annual YMCA Youth Matters Awards ceremony, which celebrates the achievements of young people, staff, volunteers and projects, took place at the Sheraton Grand Place Hotel in London. The biggest Youth Matters Awards ceremony to date was hosted by comedian and quizzer, Paul Sinha, from ITV’s The Chase.

We were delighted to be finalists in two categories, Young Campaigner of the Year (Genevieve Duque-Adao) and Health and Wellbeing Project of the Year (e-wellbeing). Genevieve, their project worker and family members attended the awards ceremony along with staff members and Youth Ambassadors from the e-wellbeing team.

The Young Campaigner of the Year award recognises a young person for the impact they have had campaigning for a cause and creating real change in the lives of others. Listen to Genevieve’s testimony here. 

The Health and Wellbeing award recognises YMCAs that have delivered innovative and inspiring projects that have had a positive impact on young people and/or the wider community. Learn more about why e-wellbeing were nominated here. 

While we were disappointed not to win on Friday, we were incredibly inspired by all the stories and hard work from fellow young people, staff, volunteers and projects from YMCAs across England and Wales.

Nicola Harvey, Digital Development and Participation Lead, e-wellbeing, commented:

“We’re so proud that e-wellbeing became finalists in the Health and Wellbeing category at the Youth Matters Awards! It was an honour to attend such a prestigious awards ceremony with e-wellbeing’s Youth Ambassadors to celebrate our achievements. Hearing about all the amazing projects and young people from YMCAs across the country was incredibly inspiring. Congrats to everyone involved!”

Tobi Roberts, Genevieve’s project worker, added:

“I am so proud of Genevieve. They’ve always been our winner!”

Congratulations to both Genevieve and e-wellbeing on being finalists and thank you to everyone who took the time to cast a vote to support them.

During Black History Month, unsung hero, Dr Harold Moody’s achievements and impact have been recognised and celebrated.

Dr Moody was a Jamaican Doctor, Humanitarian and British Civil Rights Activist, who faced a long period of racial discrimination. When he graduated, he struggled to find work as he was judged by the colour of his skin. This led to Dr Moody deciding to create his own medical practice where he offered free medical advice.

He later formed ‘The League of Coloured People’ with 70 other Central YMCA Club members to support other people suffering racial discrimination. Dr Moody was the driving force behind the race discrimination law we have today. Dr Moody is seen as the Martin Luther King of this country, with his portrait now being displayed in the National Portrait Gallery.

Learn more here about Dr Moody, his work during World War 2 and his campaign for Black British Civil Rights.