*URGENT REQUEST FOR RESIDENTS IN AND AROUND HARLESDEN*

Please vote for Sufra NW London’s projects on Saturday 16 July to help us continue supporting the most vulnerable families in and around Harlesden.

If you live in or around Harlesden (see list of areas below), you can register to vote for how £200 million of Brent Council funding is distributed to local organisations for the benefit of residents.

Sufra NW London are among many organisations requesting funding – but we can only be awarded the funds if YOU vote for us!

To vote, you need to live in one of the following areas Harlesden, Roundwood, Stonebridge or Kensal Rise!

You can cast your vote on Decision Day, which will take place from 10:00am to 3:30pm, on Saturday 16th of July at Brent Hub Community Enterprise Centre, 6 Hillside, London, NW10 8BN.

Below are details of the two Sufra Projects you can vote for. By voting for Sufra, you will be helping us support thousands of Brent’s most vulnerable residents, especially those that live near Stonebridge and Harlesden.

 

Project 1 (NCIL Funding): Eco-Cabin for St. Raphael’s Edible Garden

St. Raphael’s Edible Garden is a RHS award-winning Community Garden established in partnership with local residents. Currently, staff have been managing the project from a small, cold and ugly shipping container in the garden. It’s freezing in the winter and unbearably hot in the summer. This limits what we can offer the community.

The funding will replace the container with a large insulated wooden Eco-Cabin, fitted with solar panels that will provide electricity for the entire garden – including lights, community WiFi, and power tool charging points.

The Eco-Cabin will provide workspace for many staff and volunteers, and allow us to manage a wide range of projects, including:

• Growing Club for local residents / disabled people
• Accredited Forest School and Chicken Rearing Courses
• Community Food Market (organic, fresh produce on a pay-as-you-like basis)
• Holiday Activity Programmes for young people
• Visits for local schools / mental health wards
• Community Payback Programme for offenders
• Sowing, planting and harvesting organic fruit and vegetables

The Eco-Cabin will support regeneration by establishing a low-carbon space for the community that will enable Sufra to engage/support more marginalised residents and increase the number and scale of projects we deliver.

It will also help reduce food poverty and social isolation, improve physical and mental wellbeing, enhance the natural world, and improve local skills and environmental knowledge.

The Eco-Cabin will be erected in September 2022. We welcome you all to visit with your families and enjoy the community space and activities.

 

Project 2: (Health and Wellbeing Grant): St Raphael’s Organic Community Market

This funding will enable Sufra NW London to grow and distribute freshly grown produce to local residents, many of whom can’t afford to buy food from their supermarket – let alone a local market selling organic fruit and vegetables.

The cost-of-living crisis is making it even harder for local people to afford good quality fresh produce, and this has a negative impact on the health and wellbeing of disadvantaged communities.

The market will ensure anyone can afford quality organic produce that has been freshly harvested on site on a pay-as-you-like basis. If you have no money, there is no need to pay for what you buy.

Over 65 varieties of fruit and vegetables will be grown and harvested in the Garden, as well as delicious free-range eggs. This year, we will harvest around 1,000 kg of produce.

The small amount of income raised will go towards supporting the garden project – buying seeds and soil and harvesting more produce.

Because all the produce is organic and not transported or imported, it has a very low carbon footprint, and this helps to reduce local carbon emissions and other forms of pollution.

Coming to the market will also introduce you to a wide range of free activities and services available in the garden that benefit physical and mental wellbeing. These include accredited training courses, growing clubs, volunteering opportunities and holiday activity programmes for children.

Everyone is welcome, young and old, so please visit us and try the food!

Keep an eye out for the official brochure that lists all the other projects which we will upload onto this page soon.