The Cheesy Waffles Project has received a £500 donation from the Pavers Foundation following a grant application by Sarah Greaves, Customer Advisor at Jones Bootmaker in Durham.
The Cheesy Waffles Project is a charity based in County Durham, which provides enriching activities for children, young people and adults, aged 6-30. This not-for-profit initiative delivers clubs and activities for young people with additional needs, including the opportunity to take part in residentials, trips away, shopping excursions, meals out, sports activities and cookery programmes. Not only are these trips and excursions a fun opportunity for young people, but they also offer families and carers vital respite.
“The Cheesy Waffles Project delivers 10 clubs to different age groups, reaching out to a range of interests including cookery, shopping, swimming, art & crafts, weekends away, community work, gardening, history projects, sports, cinema visits, drama, dance & singing, and social nights.
The most important thing is that young disabled people have a good time with friends in a safe, caring, and welcoming environment, with the opportunity to develop new skills, visit new places, meet new people and enjoy new experiences.
Our Charity is constantly seeking funding opportunities and relies heavily on grants, donations and fundraising to ensure that we can continue to develop and grow”
Erika Denholm, Manager of the Cheesy Waffles Project
The Project also has a community and memorial garden where the young people grow vegetables. Even the smallest of tasks, such as buying and planting the pots and watering the plants are massive achievements that the young people are very proud of. They also run a local cafe where they sell the produce they’ve grown to the local community in order to raise money for their charity.
Shockingly this garden was vandalised in August 2019, making the produce unusable and unsellable. In response, the Cheesy Waffle Project launched a Go Fund Me page to raise money to help rebuild the garden, purchase larger security fencing to protect the area as well as install CCTV to prevent this from happening again.
Sarah explains why she is keen to support this particular cause:
“I know people who attend and families who benefit from this service and I was disgusted that people could do something so bad to people trying to do good.”
Sarah Greaves, Customer Advisor at Jones Bootmaker in Durham
The donation from the Pavers Foundation will help to support the project’s gardening and cookery projects for their post 16 groups, specifically to help replace damaged planters that will be filled with both flowers and herbs. A damaged vegetable planter will also be replaced which will allow the group to grow their own produce to make healthy dishes in the community kitchen. The charity is also erecting new security fencing this month to secure their outdoor space and make the area a relaxing place for their project members and others to enjoy.
“Thank you to the Pavers Foundation for their generous donation.”
Erika Denholm, CWP & WWP Manager
To find out more about the Cheesy Waffles Project visit https://www.cwyproject.org.uk/
