We’re thrilled to share people supported across MacIntyre are finalists as part of the Dimensions Leaders Awards!
The Dimensions Leaders’ List is an annual list featuring a variety of inspiring leaders, and we’re taking this opportunity to celebrate all of our nominees who have made the finals:
The Monkey Park team in Chesterfield - Local Communities Award finalist
Gemma, Nathan, Serafina, Sarah, Michael, Becky, Stephen and Emma all go to Monkey Park from different lifelong learning hubs across Chesterfield.
The team wanted to learn about and work in a café, and be better connected to, and helping out with, their local area. They all make a great brew, manage the kitchen, peel veg, and make soup and are environmentally conscious and care about their local area to look good and feel welcoming to everyone.
Their nomination explains how they had recently taken over a community café space on a Tuesday.
We didn’t have a plan what we were going to do in the Monkey Park space – and this was intentional! We all came together as a team and started thinking about ‘what we are good at?’ and ‘what do we care about?’. People raised all sorts of different issues they were passionate about, things like ‘the cost of living’, ‘recycling and waste’, ‘being healthy and well’ and ‘having friends’. People said they are good at things like ‘preparing food’, ‘welcoming and meeting people’ and ‘making a space where people could feel part of something’. They began to see the potential for us to co create something amazing as a group.
Then they looked at what was needed locally. This meant going out and talking to different people and organisations. Walking around the area, learning more about local resources, what was missing and how they might help. One of the ideas the group came up with was a Soup and Chat - picking up the left over veg from the food bank, and the left over bread from the supermarket, turning them into a lunch and inviting people to share it. What a brilliant idea! Each week they look at the ingredients and plan the menu. And then open the doors and welcome people in. It’s meant that we have met new people and become known locally as people who can help and people have come who may have otherwise felt lonely or been isolated. Together they have started to notice who’s not here so that we can reach out to and make sure everyone feels welcome. This has led to collaborations with the Chesterfield Asian Association and with Children’s Week where we offer a space for families to come and eat, play and listen to stories. It’s also meant collaborating with other places – for example, the Chesterfield cricket club, the Safran Kitchen, Macmillan and Gussies Food Bank.
The collaborations with the food bank have led to voluntary jobs for other people, as well as a connection with a local animal shelter – people take any leftover veg to the shelter for the horses, donkeys and smaller animals. They really are making the most of everything and making sure nothing goes to waste and people are helped along the way, and the feedback and compliments have been pouring in:
- “We learnt how to make onion bhajis and a vegetable kadai! Absolutely DE-LI-CIOUS Lisa, Nathan and Stephen did an amazing job learning new cooking skills, our customers absolutely loved it!”
- “Well I popped in, and there was great food and atmosphere, on a cold damp day the soup hit the right spot! Thank you so much to all involved in my refreshments”
- “It’s the highlight of my day on a Tuesday! Lovely food and a great atmosphere”
- “It was fabulous; great soup and great company. The helpers couldn’t do enough”
- “Looks great, folks – what wonderful community volunteering”
We are so proud of what they have achieved and how they bring their local community together with fun and care.
