Help Provide Family Teas - Sunrise Cafe
Giving families the opportunity to book a table in our community cafe in Dover. Getting the full 'eating out' experience to enjoy a 2 course meal from a varied menu, paying what they can afford.
About the Project Creator
Hello. My name is Barbara and I am a volunteer for the Sunrise Cafe, Dover. I am part of the steering group and one of the founders for this social enterprise.
The Sunrise Cafe is a community cafe operating under the umbrella of Dover Outreach Centre. The Outreach Centre is a charity set up to give people a hand out of homelessness.
Prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic, we were part of the Dover Soup Kitchen. This was forced to close on 23 March 2020. The District Councils supported the homeless with temporary shelter and access to food. However, the soup kitchen served a wider group of our most vulnerable people.
Born from the desire to ensure that no one goes hungry in the Dover Community, it was decided to renovate the unused space next to the centre to create a community cafe. To acheive this we received amazing help from a wide and varied list of local companies, organisations and individuals providing financial donations, grants and equipment.
The Cafe is professionally run as a social enterprise for the benefit of the whole Dover community. We opened our doors on 3rd July 2021, offering breakfast from 8am until 11.30am, mid-morning coffee and cake, plus two-course lunch is served until 1.45pm.
Local ingredients are sourced wherever and whenever possible. We are fortunate to have agreements with local supermarkets in the Dover area who regularly provide good quality surplus food, together with FareShare Kent.
We operate a pay what you can afford model so that no one goes hungry.
The Sunrise Cafe aims to provide the community with the means to affordable meals for those that need it. We are giving them the opprtunity to give back and help those in need by volunteering at the cafe.
We now want to extend this by offering the family teas throughout the year and being able to offer homeless people paid employment opportunities. Providing on the job training and support to build skills, confidence and self esteem.
Not living with food insecurity should be a right for all people in our society. The right to access the whole community, enjoy family life and engage in meaningful occupation is something we are passionate about.