by Deborah Row, Learning Support Worker
Christopher and Rowena, who live in Milton Keynes, love baking and cooking. They're really good at baking cakes (and eating them!!), but its not always the healthiest thing although we do like doing it!
Instead of baking something we would be eating we wanted to make something for someone else. We had thought about dog biscuits before as lots of the people we know and staff have dogs, and Christopher and Rowena like animals. I had a look online and found a recipe. At first it was just making them to give to people we knew and staff who have dogs. We have never had one refused!
Looking out in the community
We talked about Everyone Everywhere as a team. I heard the story of a person supported who loved chopping veg and how it could help at a soup kitchen. It started us to think about how the dog biscuits we made could benefit people. We contacted a dog charity but we didn’t hear back from them. And then one of our staff said there was a food larder at the local community centre. Christopher and Rowena wanted to go and have a look, and take the biscuits.
How could we help?
We had a coffee and a chat to the people who were there and found out about all the things that were happening. They asked for us to make dog biscuits for them to give people who use the food larder because they're struggling financially.
People can’t always afford dog treats and it’s really lovely to think of this being part of their food parcel. We printed some stickers off so that people know who has made the biscuits. And so we go every couple of weeks to drop off the biscuits, have a coffee and chat to the people there. It’s good for us to feel like we are making a difference and it’s good that people know about MacIntyre and how we are helping.
Taking it further
Now we're getting to know people at the centre, they've asked us to get involved with more things. We'll be helping with their next table-top sale, and we've been asked to run a session showing people how to make the dog biscuits!
But don't worry, Christopher and Rowena haven't given up on making cakes for humans as well!
