Cheese Market donates £5,000 to The Upper Room

Image above: (L – R) Jules Kane – Chiswick Cheese Market, Fiona Cook – The Upper Room, Lucy Cufflin – Chiswick Cheese Market, Waldi (support worker) – The Upper Room, Iain Cooper (new CEO) – The Upper Room, Jude Thompson (chef) – The Upper Room and Chris Francis (outgoing CEO) – The Upper Room

Charity which supports homeless people facing unprecedented demand 

Chiswick Cheese Market has donated £5,000 to The Upper Room, a charity based in Hammersmith which supports homeless people.

Charities such as The Upper Room are currently seeing an unprecedented increase in need for their services. The charity provides a day centre and food for rough sleepers and those without access to meals, health and hygiene facilities. They also offer career training, chiropody, hairdressing and support with literacy.

The Chiswick Cheese Market is run by volunteers but raises money by charging stallholders to take part. They donate the funds they raise to local charities or the money is put back into the British Artisan Cheese industry by way of grants to help producers and cheese mongers.

The Cookbook Kitchen team, which runs the Chiswick Cheese Market, is a group of local women – chefs, authors and designers, who set up the Cookbook Festival a few years ago and continue to organise supper clubs to showcase cookery writing, recipes and food while raising money for good causes.

Earlier this year, the Cheese Market donated £1,500 to help citizens of Ukraine, following Russia’s invasion.

Images above: Clothing in The Upper Room, The Upper Room’s kitchen

Demand on charity has risen by 96%

A spokesperson from The Upper Room told The Chiswick Calendar:

“Since January, the number of people accessing UR4Meals has risen by 96% and at times reaches 120 per session. Instead of attending once per week people are now attending almost every day.

“Our core group of rough sleepers and many others require in-depth housing support if they are facing eviction, have rent arrears, are victims of domestic violence, or are living in inadequate or unsafe accommodation.

“Many people are struggling to make ends meet and our Citizens Advaice Bureau advisor explains which benefits they are eligible for, assists with Universal Credit applications, or with following-up late payments.’

Chiswick’s Cheese Market organisers said they were ‘overjoyed’ to be able to donate to the charity. If you would like to make a donation, you cn do so here:

upperroom.org

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