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February '24
Had a great start to the Year of the Dragon with our clients last Tuesday 13th. We had home cooked Chinese food together with Fortune Cookies, with
starters of sesame toast, spring rolls, chicken parcels with sweet chilli sauce,
and for mains:
all followed by mini-Pavlovas for pud
Well done to Joy and Dan for all the cooking, and our lovely team of volunteers on the day, Sandy, Di & Dawer
Our Stepping Stones Chinese New Year meal and similar special events are kindly funded by Cllr Tim Sinclair - Stratford North’s County Councillor Grant Fund - BIG thanks to Tim.
Had a great start to the Year of the Dragon with our clients last Tuesday 13th. We had home cooked Chinese food together with Fortune Cookies, with
starters of sesame toast, spring rolls, chicken parcels with sweet chilli sauce,
and for mains:
- Sweet & Sour Chicken,
- Chicken with Cashew Nuts,
- Pork & Vegetable Dumplings,
- Pork with Garlic, Ginger & Honey (my favourite),
all followed by mini-Pavlovas for pud
Well done to Joy and Dan for all the cooking, and our lovely team of volunteers on the day, Sandy, Di & Dawer
Our Stepping Stones Chinese New Year meal and similar special events are kindly funded by Cllr Tim Sinclair - Stratford North’s County Councillor Grant Fund - BIG thanks to Tim.
January '24
Fantastic news! We are now in receipt of funds from the Stratford Town Trust. These will allow us to recruit a Charity Manager who will be able to drive us forwards, delivering on two new exciting projects: a clothing gift card scheme for clients, and a food training course "Food Independence Pathway" which will help clients learn to both shop and cook for themselves - we're really excited about these. The new manager, when appointed, will also take over the day-to-day running of the charity from our trustees and be able to put some real oomph behind our work.
We've have also received a very generous donation from a local business which is fantastic and will really help us in our work. A GREAT START to 2024.
Fantastic news! We are now in receipt of funds from the Stratford Town Trust. These will allow us to recruit a Charity Manager who will be able to drive us forwards, delivering on two new exciting projects: a clothing gift card scheme for clients, and a food training course "Food Independence Pathway" which will help clients learn to both shop and cook for themselves - we're really excited about these. The new manager, when appointed, will also take over the day-to-day running of the charity from our trustees and be able to put some real oomph behind our work.
We've have also received a very generous donation from a local business which is fantastic and will really help us in our work. A GREAT START to 2024.
December '23
see below for details of Christmas and current recruitment.
Via Neighbourly we now receive excess food from Aldi each week (THANK YOU). Last week we had a load of tomatoes and bread rolls. These turned into fantastic hot nutritious soup, and hot dogs to make a lovely lunch for our clients. Sorry there was none left so no photos!
see below for details of Christmas and current recruitment.
Via Neighbourly we now receive excess food from Aldi each week (THANK YOU). Last week we had a load of tomatoes and bread rolls. These turned into fantastic hot nutritious soup, and hot dogs to make a lovely lunch for our clients. Sorry there was none left so no photos!
July' 23
Lots has happened since we sadly had to leave HR Coffee Bar. We are now operating again from the United Reformed Church (BIG thank you) on Rother Street on Tuesdays and Thursdays with our offer of hot food, a friendly chat and sign posting.
Joy had been baking cakes for weeks in readiness for our cake stall at the Ken Kennet Family Day and we had received a donation of five fantastic gateaux from www.mademoiselledesserts.com on the Friday. Sadly this event was cancelled because of the weather at the very last minute, when all the cakes had already been thawed, the car's back seat folded down and fully loaded with the cakes all ready to go. Luckily Honeybourne Village Fete stepped up and very kindly let us move everything to their fete at The Leys in Honeybourne with less than an hours notice. Special BIG thanks to https://www.facebook.com/HoneybeesWI with whom we 'shared space' and who were very kind to us in our hour of need. Despite the dreadful weather we raised over £150 on the day from the cake sales. Another BIG thank you to to https://www.facebook.com/thebullstratforduponavon who sold the last few cakes for us and were able to make a further donation of £50 as a result.
All in all over £200 raised which is massive for us - THANK YOU.
Btw, if anyone is interested in our work, or would like to support us we are currently looking for volunteers to help with service and cooking, and also two new trustees. Contact us if interested.
Lots has happened since we sadly had to leave HR Coffee Bar. We are now operating again from the United Reformed Church (BIG thank you) on Rother Street on Tuesdays and Thursdays with our offer of hot food, a friendly chat and sign posting.
Joy had been baking cakes for weeks in readiness for our cake stall at the Ken Kennet Family Day and we had received a donation of five fantastic gateaux from www.mademoiselledesserts.com on the Friday. Sadly this event was cancelled because of the weather at the very last minute, when all the cakes had already been thawed, the car's back seat folded down and fully loaded with the cakes all ready to go. Luckily Honeybourne Village Fete stepped up and very kindly let us move everything to their fete at The Leys in Honeybourne with less than an hours notice. Special BIG thanks to https://www.facebook.com/HoneybeesWI with whom we 'shared space' and who were very kind to us in our hour of need. Despite the dreadful weather we raised over £150 on the day from the cake sales. Another BIG thank you to to https://www.facebook.com/thebullstratforduponavon who sold the last few cakes for us and were able to make a further donation of £50 as a result.
All in all over £200 raised which is massive for us - THANK YOU.
Btw, if anyone is interested in our work, or would like to support us we are currently looking for volunteers to help with service and cooking, and also two new trustees. Contact us if interested.
January '23
News updates:
1. After a couple of weeks of reduced opening we will by back to fully open 4 days a weeks from 6th February.
2. On 25th Jan we held our first podiatry session of the year in conjunction with the wonderful Forgotten Feet and had 6 attending clients
3. We have now analysed 2022 numbers - see below
News updates:
1. After a couple of weeks of reduced opening we will by back to fully open 4 days a weeks from 6th February.
2. On 25th Jan we held our first podiatry session of the year in conjunction with the wonderful Forgotten Feet and had 6 attending clients
3. We have now analysed 2022 numbers - see below
January '23
Many thanks to Tesco and Fareshare for their first donation of the year. There were a lot of parsnips.
We saw this as a challenge. And so from the kitchen courtesy of Joy & Dan came:
Parsnip & Chick Pea Curry
Parsnip Crisps
Parsnip & Maple Syrup Sponge Cake
Parsnip Muffins (American style)
Parsnip, Carrot & Coriander Soup
Curried Parsnip Soup
Note: for the record we are now parsniped out 🤣
Many thanks to Tesco and Fareshare for their first donation of the year. There were a lot of parsnips.
We saw this as a challenge. And so from the kitchen courtesy of Joy & Dan came:
Parsnip & Chick Pea Curry
Parsnip Crisps
Parsnip & Maple Syrup Sponge Cake
Parsnip Muffins (American style)
Parsnip, Carrot & Coriander Soup
Curried Parsnip Soup
Note: for the record we are now parsniped out 🤣
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December '22
Stepping Stones held our Christmas Lunch for our clients on the 19th December at HR Coffee Bar. We had with turkey dinner, Christmas pud, trifle, minced pies and prezzies. A great time was had by all. A massive thank you to Tescos, A-Plan Insurance and Stratford Food Bank for the food. October 24th '22
Stepping Stones, in conjunction with HR Coffee Bar held a celebratory Diwali day on Monday 24th where we offered a selection of curries and sweets to the public for £10 with £2.50 from each sale going to Stepping Stones. This continued into the afternoon for our clients at their regular hot meal. For this we were able to invite them to sit with us an enjoy their meal as well as teach them about the Diwali Festival of Light. We hope to hold similar events throughout the year, subject to funding. August '22
A sad story with a happier ending ... A few weeks ago, one of our clients living on the streets came in for a meal and we noticed he was limping, turned out that he had several infected blisters on his feet as his shoes had worn through. Long story short, we managed to get him to hospital where it turned out he had early sepsis, and would have died in the next 24hrs or so without treatment. He now has mended feet and shoes, but is still on the streets. |
November '22
it's been a quieter month in November in terms of 'news'' and the work continues. That said we are pleased to share that the Fare Share food donations from Tescos (totalling more than £400 worth) have really helped and avoided waste as we've been able to use much of this in the meals, the balance is either given to our clients or is in the freezer awaiting its menu! September '22
We have just updated our numbers. In 2022 to end of August we have served 1,430 meals to our clients. A BIG thank you to the National Lottery Community fund for funding much of this important work. |
October '22
Great news: last Monday we received our first boxes of otherwise wasted food from our local Tesco (thank you) via Fareshare. This was bread and fruit & veg and has been prepared/frozen/cooked/handed out as appropriate to our clients. We will now be able to collect this on an ongoing weekly basis, which is brilliant. HR Coffee Bar will now feature a Stepping Stones home made cake (by Joy!) where all sales will go into the Charity donation pot - every little helps. |
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July '22
We had a crackin’ day at the Ken Kennett Family Fun Day on 23rd July; it was great to see so many families just having fun Our drinks and cakes sales, combined with the lovely donations from the teas & coffees from Holy Trinity/Ken Kennett meant that we raised enough for around 100 hot meals for the homeless and socially excluded folk who share our town. A MASSIVE thank you to everyone who came |
June '22
Stepping Stones held its first event on June 3rd when we laid on a full sit-down restaurant style meal for the clients at HR Coffee Bar. 15 of our clients enjoyed a three course Jubilee themed lunch with prawn cocktail, steaks & chips with trimmings followed by Jubilee Trifle and a great time was had by all. |
June '22
Stepping Stones, a newly registered charity working with the homeless and socially excluded, is pleased to announce it will be holding a Jubilee Lunch for the clients on Friday 3rd June where the clients will receive a 3-course sit down served lunch at the HR Coffee Bar in Windsor Street, funded by The National Lottery Community Fund. Over the Jubilee weekend HR Coffee Bar will also be offering Jubilee themed takeaway lunch boxes (Ploughman’s, Jubilee trifles etc.) with all profits going to Stepping Stones. We look forward to seeing you. |
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May '22
We presented Stepping Stones to Stratford on Avon District Council's District Housing Forum which includes both local government and 3rd sectors agencies in the local housing arena 
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