Article by David Simmons of Cinnamon Network posted 9 June 2015 on http://www.cinnamonnetwork.co.uk/category/church-project-focus/

A MAKELUNCH KITCHEN IN EVERY TOWN

Cinnamon Bites chatted to Elle Knight, the National Development Manager for MakeLunch, at the Cinnamon stand at the Big Church Day Out.

Q: How long have you been working for MakeLunch?
A: I’ve been working for MakeLunch for just over a year now, but I’ve been involved at a a local level volunteering for the last three years.

Q: What appeals to you most about the MakeLunch project?
A: Just that it’s so simple for local churches. Churches love looking after people, they love feeding people, so it’s actually a really natural and obvious next step for churches to take if they want to get involved in their community.

Q: And you are the National Development Manager. What does that involve?
A: That involves developing our training; we are trying to make sure that we are making the most of our four years’ experience in running these projects across the country. So just trying to gather that knowledge that we’ve already gained and put that into our training in nice bite-sized chunks that us useful for new kitchens. But also developing some ongoing training, so I’m putting together some fundraising training, to help new kitchens to become more sustainable.

Q: What do you think MakeLunch will be doing in five years’ time?
A: In five years’ time our vision is to have a Lunch kitchen in every town and every village within walking distance of every child that may possibly need it.

Make Lunch aims to help local churches to set up free lunch kitchens which offer a nutritious hot meals in the holidays to pupils who usually receive free school meals.

You can find out more about starting a MakeLunch project here: http://www.cinnamonnetwork.co.uk/cinnamon-projects/makelunch/

You can watch Elle’s inspiring film here: http://www.cinnamonnetwork.co.uk/inspiring-volunteers/

You can apply for micro-grants here: http://www.cinnamonnetwork.co.uk/micro-grants/

For video of MakeLunch see http://www.cinnamonnetwork.co.uk/cinnamon-projects/makelunch/

This article was used with permission from Cinnamon. For the original, please see http://www.cinnamonnetwork.co.uk/makelunch-update/