Dear Readers At the start of a gloomy and rainy first week of October here we are reflecting on our achievements and looking forward to the celebrations to mark the end of the year of the year and the festive season. As we speak we are busy packaging our Christmas products ready to be photographed and launched by second week of October.We aim to sell them online by preorder and also at markets and events we will attend from now to December. As a sneak preview there will be our best-selling hamper with a selection of our jams, truffles,biscuits and cheese as well as our teatowel, artwork etc.They will be available to preorder from middle of October. We are very pleased to announce that our Syrian dinner at Pistachio in the Park sold out in two weeks and by popular demand we are now offering another Syrian Feast at Stansted Lodge in November and also a Syrian themed Christmas lunch at Star of Greenwich.We can offer the same at your place of work or for your family festive season celebrations.Please book your Syrian festive meal through our website. I am honoured to be nominated for the Mayor of Lewisham’s Community Award in the Community or faith group/organisation category. The Community Awards scheme was launched in 2017 to champion all those who are going above and beyond for their communities. This could be through helping a neighbour in need, coaching a sports team, running a community choir, giving up their free time to volunteer, performing incredible acts of selflessness, donating food, and more. The council will film me and feature the film on their website promoting our charity. I am also very pleased about the official launch of the book in the Uk and America “Silent rebellion,becoming a modern leader” and the good reviews on Amazon. We are hopeful that you will explore this impactful resource.Please share it with those who want to learn more about leadership and more about my struggles and motivation to set Plateful up and keep it going despite all odds. Our partnership with Team Lewis is also continuing with our artwork being exhibited in their new Headquarters on Millbank.We are discussing the details as we speak and will reveal more in the next issue. Our search for a commercial kitchen of our own continues and perhaps you have leads in southeast London we could explore? Our external catering for events and special occasions continues to be popular with the local public and organisations and we are planning to be the caterer in residence at Magdalen Hall in SE1.The hall is well used by the local community for weddings,birthdays, etc without an in-house caterer.Lets hope their kitchen will be fit-for-purpose once refurbished.We will try it out in October. We are working on new menus from Sudan,Chad and Iran to feature in our community dinners and catering in the new year showcasing world flavours by refugee chefs. As usual the best way to be kept up-to-date is through our social media and signing up to our newsletter to be the first to know about our news! A huge thank you to our wonderful volunteer teams who work tirelessly to keep our charity going and keep growing.Truly and honestly you are the lifeblood of Plateful! !A rough calculation estimates the total number of volunteer hours to 150 per week!!
Dear readers! The summer is slowly giving way to autumn and what an August rich of activities we have had. We started new partnerships with St Magdalen Hall and Pistachio in Fields cafe and as we speak we are busy preparing the different dishes we will offer at Pullens festival this weekend. At St Magdalen Hall we catered for their summer party and at Pistachios in the fields we were given the opportunity to sell our products and display our artwork at their Calais fundraiser. Both events were successful and we met with many new people who have a genuine desire to support our cause. We very much hope for these partnerships to be long-term and fruitfull for all. At St Magdalen Hall we are planning to offer unique menus for their birthdays parties and weddings and at Pistachios in the Filed run our first Syrian community dinner in October. We thank Rob,the owner for the opportunity and his great support of our charity. At Pullens we are thrilled to have the opportunity to showcase our food offer of traditional dishes from Syria cooked using family recipes and we are honoured to be the only food provider at the festival. We have received a generous donation from Team Lewis marketing Company and I have had the honour to be interviewed and featured in their book” The Silent rebellion, becoming a modern leader” which talks about my journey setting up the Refugee Café and now Plateful café etc.In September the book will be launched and my interview will be available to promote Plateful cafe extensively. Our search for a commercial Kitchen continues but not with much luck as what we have been offered is either domestic,too far,without storage etc. Since leaving Parkside Community Centre we have been fortunate to receive many commissions for large catering events at universities and also corporates and it has been very challenging to cook from a domestic kitchen.We continue to grow without a commercial kitchen to grow in! You might know of a kitchen in your area available at peppercorn rent for our small young charity ? Having a commercial kitchen which we could call our own would make a huge difference and would mean we could train the next cohort of 6 chefs, expand our catering offers branching out to bigger and bigger events and making a huge difference to a bigger group of aspiring chefs in the area. Our beneficiaries greatest aspiration is to work, making a contribution to the local economy and society rebuilding their lives after years of trauma and upheaval. They do not want to continue to rely on benefits to survive.Being unemployed is demeaning and shameful as all come from professional backgrounds with a great aspiration to continue with their previous job,providing for their families! With your continuing support we will, one day achieve our dream and offer pathways to employment to many more refugees!
Yesterday (7th), marked the end of Volunteer’s Week. As the name suggests, an annual celebration and recognition of the contribution that millions of people make across the UK through volunteering. To say that volunteers and the volunteering sector, in general underpin our local communities in this country would be an understatement. Volunteers provide a vital role and support a whole host of different activities: from community outreach to those most vulnerable, sport, all the way through to the arts and culture. And how could we get forget food! In a society that, unfortunately, feels increasingly isolating and obsessed on the individual, the continued existence of volunteers are a source of inspiration, encouraging us to think beyond ourselves and instead, into wider communities that we’re a part of. Simply put, we would not have got to where we are without the countless hours of work our volunteers have committed to Plateful Café. From our event staff helping at in-person events, the fundraising team seeking funding to help our charity grow and of course not forgetting the tireless work of our founder, Iolanda Chirico, does in making sure all areas of Plateful Café are moving in the right direction and towards our goal of having a café staffed and run by refugees. For Volunteers’ Week this year, we thought we would share two testimonies from our volunteers who’ve been volunteering with Plateful Café sharing how they got started at the charity and their thoughts on their respective journey and things to come! Albert, Market Stall Volunteer I started volunteering with Iolanda at what was then the Refugee Café in December 2020. Initially, I was part of the fundraising team, researching for grant applications, but soon switched to helping out on market stalls. This is where I discovered just how good to cause, and the products truly were. All the food was of such high quality, and clearly made with love. As I learned more about the chefs and how the organisation functioned, I knew it was something I wanted to keep on being a part of. Helping refugees find work and put down roots by sharing their cuisine and culture – what’s not to love? I became a regular face at Woolwich Market, and also helped out with other markets and events. I then took on responsibility for the web shop, but talking to people about our food and the people we worked with was still by far my favourite part of volunteering. Since the transition from Refugee Café to Plateful, I have helped with a couple of events – most notably our launch at Goldsmiths. I can’t wait for us to start trading at markets again, and more importantly, for us to finally achieve what we’ve all been working towards: opening a café staffed and run by refugees, where the community can come together around a table laden with delicious food! Tejan, Marketing Lead We’re always looking for more volunteers to help with Plateful Café and if you think this sort of thing is for you, why not have a look at our current vacancies!
