On Tuesday 19 December, Councillor Helen Price from The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM) Council attended the Good Grub Club, a holiday hunger event in Clewer and Dedworth, alongside Abri’s Regional Managing Director (South East) Dasos Christou.
The Good Grub Club is an initiative set up by housing provider Abri in 2017 to relieve and support families during school holidays with free meals, tackling holiday hunger and social isolation. The project empowers people in the community with the confidence, skillset and resources to create tasty, high quality and nutritional meals that are balanced for the whole family, within their budget.
Previously these sessions were delivered to the community directly by Abri, but the housing provider has now partnered with local organisations, like RBWM, to expand the club across communities and support even more people to make healthier choices.
With reindeer turkey burgers and mince pies on the menu, this Christmas themed session marked the start of many more to be delivered by Dedworth Library thanks to funding from Abri. Sourced from local supermarkets, ingredients are provided for the interactive event and for families attending to recreate the dish at home. All leftover and unopened food was delivered to the local food bank Windsor Foodshare.
Councillor Helen Price from RBWM, who took part in the festivities commented:
“Events like the Good Grub Club are great for building stronger community networks and combatting loneliness or feelings of isolation where we live, this is especially important during the cold, dark winter months. It’s great to see initiatives like the club take place in Clewer and Dedworth, bringing families together to positively influence healthier food options and help residents understand the importance of a nutritional and balanced diet on a budget.”
Abri has provided £49,600 from its Partnership Fund to local organisations to run the club across its operating area including Southampton, Salisbury, Chard, Yeovil, Littlemoor, Whitehill and Bordon, and Bracknell.
Dasos Christou, Abri’s Regional Managing Director (South East) added:
“With the continued high cost of living, initiatives like this are so important. Every community should have the resources they need to thrive, so we’re really pleased to be able to support Dedworth Library in making this happen. It was great to meet some Abri families and other members of the community today and see the impact these sessions have. As part of Abri’s new regional model, we’ll be even more visible and accountable to our customers and run more events like this to better meet the needs of our communities.”
Dedworth Library will be running Good Grub Club sessions during school holidays until summer 2024. If you’d like to book a place email advocacy@rbwm.gov.uk or call Dedworth Library on 01753 868733.