Mum’s Morning Launched

Thursday 9th May saw our first “Mum’s Morning”.  Storehouse’s Mum’s Morning is a place for ladies to come, bring their children to our little creche room and to sit and have ‘Mum time’ with like-minded ladies.

Looking after a child or children on your own is a hard but an incredibly rewarding job, but there are sometimes barriers to getting out and about and just hooking up and ‘doing life’ with other people.  To be able to come, have tea, coffee and cake and do some craft activities and have a natter, while your child is taken care of for a morning is extremely important.  As adults, we need adult contact and let’s face it, we don’t have babies all at the same time and so our social circumstances and lives sometimes become very different.  Some Mum’s feel social isolation, some need a boost to their confidence.  Talking and sharing and getting some head space is key.

If you want more information, are interested in coming along or know someone who wants to, drop Lisa an email on lisa@tynesidevineyard.org.uk.  It’s free and very friendly!!

Love, Storehouse x

LoveTyneside – Looking back and moving forward!

Hello everyone!

It”s been a while since we posted an update on LoveTyneside, but this doesn’t mean that we haven’t been busy 🙂 We want to share with you what we have been up to since December last year, to the present date.

For those of you who may not know much about LoveTyneside, in a nutshell: LoveTyneside is a project of Tyneside Vineyard  and part of the community of Byker. The focus is on developing relationships, to see lives and communities transformed.

In December we had a Christmas Carol sing-along in Raby Gate. We enjoyed mince pies and mulled wine.  People were in good voice, singing many favorite Christmas’ Carols, including one girl’s request of ‘Little Donkey’.   There were a number of people who were listening and enjoying the event from the balconies in Raby Gate.

In January and February we wanted to ask the community for feedback.  We did a survey on the 26^th January 2013,  interviewing 21 people around Raby Gate in Byker.  We wanted to understand if people were aware of LoveTyneside in their community, how many people had had had the chance to come and have fun and take part and whether what we were doing was in fact what people wanted.

Here’s an excerpt of what we found out:

• There is high level of awareness of LoveTyneside –  76% people were aware of the Lovetyneside projects and 65% of those who responded have taken part in Lovetyneside in the past year.
• People that have taken part in the events rate LoveTyneside on average as being ‘Very Good’, with positive comments on BBQs, face-painting, Sunflower planting and the Christmas event.
• The community demonstrated an intention to partner with LoveTyneside to help improve the community with 57% of interviewees leaving contact details and agreeing to help with future projects.

This year we want to have even more impact.   Our goal is to empower the community to bring about positive change through a partnership, as we know lasting change can only be achieved if the community take action themselves.

In 2013 we need to ensure that the project we take on is; i) aligned with the needs of the community; ii) fits our skills and resources; iii) delivers lasting change by empowering the community to take action. We also want to continue to bring more moments of joy and we will continue to hold Kid’s fun days on the third of Saturday each month.

We want to identify people in the community to partner with us.  If you want to know more, or you think this could be you please contact us on the email lovetyneside@tynesidevineyard.org.uk

The next LoveTyneside is 25th May 2-4pm in the Byker Gardens  – please like us at our Lovetyneside facebook page for more details of new events.

Lights, Camera, Action …

Lights, camera, action …. a well known phrase used in the film industry, it’s the traditional cue to a film crew at the beginning of a take.  On the 8th March, Storehouse held a fashion show and live music night to raise funds for the project.  There were definitely lights and cameras, but in our case it was Action that came first.

In a society of fundraising organisations, charities appealing with big puppy eyes on TV, the guys that three step chase you in the street with a clip board for a good cause, and there’s always a friend of a friend donning trainers to run a race to take your £1 a mile sponsorship, it’s hard to mention fundraising without folks rolling their eyes. Coming up with an innovative idea to engage people with your cause in order to raise funds, is terrifyingly hard these days. We needed action to organise an event that not only raised funds, but was fun and brought people together!

Storehouse relies on donations to keep running; providing food, clothing, home, hygiene, baby and children’s items across the Tyneside area and to keep our community cafe and community projects running.  We believe community is essential! Coming together over a brew and a bite to eat and sharing life is so key to us as human beings.  Isolation is not necessary and in this day and age is not acceptable.

It was really simple for us to come up with the idea of a fashion show.  Sitting in a building, surrounded by clothing, donated by generous people, what better way to have fun and bring people together?

Everyone had an amazing evening and we raised over £1700! Thanks to SO MANY people in the preparation, execution and support of the event.  They say ‘actions speak louder than words’ and that a ‘picture paints a thousand words’, so here are some pictures …

The catwalk in action.

All outfits were in our ‘Look Book’ and up for auction.

The Easter Hamper donated by our wonderful volunteers for raffle.

All set up for our ‘Open Mic’

Volunteer team setting up.

Precision work.

We’re organising other events this year and want to reach more people and continue to build communities and change lives.  If you want to help, donate or support in any way, drop us a line – See storehousene.org.uk

Love, StorehouseNE x

Generosity

Have you ever had that wonderful feeling when you’ve been generous and you know you’ve made a tiny difference to someone’s day?  It’s a warm fuzzy feeling, it’s a feeling that comes without needing thanks, it’s a great feeling! Letting the guy out into the traffic ahead of you… giving the lady the pound for her shopping trolley…jumping in and giving the person in the queue, the small amount of change they need for their shopping. All random acts of kindness and generosity, but all very much appreciated by the people they affect.

Storehouse was featured in the Journal at the beginning of the month (if you’re interested, read it here) and as a result of that and a note on Netmums, people have donated with such generosity, it blows us away.  People give, with no expectation of return or thanks, but it’s people like this that help us to continue to help individuals and families across the region supported through Storehouse referrals.

We want to say a big THANK YOU to all who donated and continue to do so.  From baby items and cots, to food, toiletries, towels, sheets, clothing and shoes.  All of the items are sorted and made ready for anyone who needs them who are referred by a support agency.

Our dream is for no individual to be in need, but for now we want to see our stock room empty (and re-filled) as the items are given to those people who need assistance. We work with over 30 agencies across Tyneside and the list is growing.

If you would like to help in any way please email us or phone 07834 388444. If you’re feeling generous … we accept donations of anything you’d be happy to receive yourself.

Thank You! – Storehouse

Love Tyneside

Over the last few months, on the 3rd Saturday, we have been serving the Raby Gate community of Byker wall. We seek to be part of the community, to build relationships and see what opportunities God gives us to bless and practically serve individuals and the community as a whole.

To achieve the most visible impact on the community we began by focusing to improve the physical environment through gardening projects. Our aim is to see every garden in Raby Gate bursting with colour, which we hope will bring joy to the community.

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Over the past few months teams of gardening volunteers have tackled many overgrowing, weed infested gardens and a huge amount of window boxes; turning these areas into places people can relax and enjoy. We have filled the boot of a Landrover with loads of rubbish time and time again to clear areas, laid 200 square meters of weed membrane, 1⁄4 ton of gravel, 1⁄2 ton of chipped bark, and planted over 100 plants and shrubs.

Over the summer we held BBQ’s and organized face painting and games for the families and residents of the Raby Gate area. We had well over 100 people attend the various afternoons. We had the opportunity to establish relationships, have fun playing games and enjoying each other’s company. The response from the Raby Gate community has been very positive, and they want to see us do much more in the area. The tenant’s association took pictures and shared it in the council meeting asking how they can support Love Tyneside.

The next Love Tyneside is this Saturday at Byker Wall, we’d love to see you there – we’re meeting at 2.00pm at Raby Gate, email Andy for more details.

You may not know…

…130,000 adults live in poverty in Newcastle

…1 in 10 adults within Newcastle go hungry to feed a child every day

…1 in 5 children in the UK go hungry… 1 in 3 children in Newcastle (16,700) are classed as living in poverty

… that Storehouse food was only set up 31/2 months ago.  In that time we have provided:

• 52 food packs, containing 7 days food, 3 meals per day = 1096 meals, that’s over 3000 items of food!
• 32 hygiene packs, containing all the essentials an individual needs
• 16 baby packs, containing clothing, baby  gyms, baby baths, products, towels, blankets, toys & pre-packed hospital maternity bags, for Mum & baby
• 5 clothing packs, each containing at least 4 full changes of clothing

… you can help!….by supporting Storehouse in any way you can – email lisa@storehousefood.org.uk to find out how!

 

16 Food Packs, 14 Hygiene Packs, 2 Baby Packs – all going out today!

Some of our food packs and baby items waiting for their new home.

Every week, Storehouse take referrals from community agencies, for food from our food bank and / or clothing, home, hygiene and baby items, to help folks with an immediate time restricted need. We all are never certain when a patch of hardship may hit – the loss of a job, a stop or change in benefits, a home situation which changes suddenly… any one of us can find ourselves in an unpredicted situation.

We have a team of volunteers that put together the food and baby/home packs.  Food packs provide three meals a day for seven days.  People can be referred for up to three weeks food, collecting one pack per week for up to three weeks.  Here are a few items waiting to be collected to go to their new and deserving homes this week:

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Love Tyneside – Summer 2012

What a phenomenal summer we’ve had!  Being based in Britain you may not be inclined to believe us when we say that, but really, all three of our Summer Love Tyneside outings in June, July and August saw us soaking up the sun and smell of burgers!

Out in the local community, we set up our BBQ, grilling and sharing food together.  Gardeners gardened, kids played, all smiled and enjoyed!  Just to share, we’ve posted some photos here for you to see:

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A baby, clothing, home, hygiene, food pack – all ready to go!

Sometimes, when we get a new home, our friends give us a helping hand.  This is what Storehouse was able to do, providing home goods, food and clothing.  On this occasion, there was more than just a new home to look forward to … a beautiful new baby was coming too!  We’re hoping he/she will keep up with health and fitness, starting out in the baby gym 🙂