Lighthouse Café

Together Training & Trading

 

Lighthouse Café Background:

Heaven’s Kitchen has for the past 10 year provided cooked meals for up to 80 people who are homeless and/or emotionally vulnerable. The meals, which take place twice a week, provide an opportunity for various service providers to offer support and advice on life damaging additions, homelessness and mental wellbeing issues.

 

Heaven’s Kitchen comes under the management of Dudley Counselling Centre which is a registered Charity. Heaven’s Kitchen operated from the former British Oak pub owned by Dudley Community Church who have successfully raised funds to demolish and build a new Centre to be called “The Lighthouse Centre” www.TheLighthouseCente.info  (TLC) which has in part been supported by the Beatrice Laing Foundation.   TLC will provide an excellent space to continue and develop the work of Heaven’s Kitchen alongside Dudley Counselling Centre.  Heaven’s Kitchen propose to open “The Lighthouse Café” to develop its work in the local community of Dudley.

Lighthouse Café

Propose to open mid-September 2019, when the new building is complete. 

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Aims of the Lighthouse Café;

1. Provide a Multipurpose Community Café Facility

2. Promote physical and emotional wellbeing

3. Provide a low cost Community café

4. Provide a low cost external catering service to the third sector

5. Provide a Space for Togetherness  

 

Lighthouse Café Bringing Together;

1. Community Service providers.  Lighthouse Café will offer an excellent facility to host and facilitate drop in or workshop opportunities

2. Community Groups. Wether interest or issue driven the Lighthouse Café will offer a low cost space.

3. Coproduction.  Lighthouse Café will seek to work with the local community, other community groups and service providers to ensure it is meeting the relevant needs of the community.

4. Connect with its users hosting regular buzz input sessions to assess the needs of ist users to help shape the direction and future of the Lighthouse Café

 

Lighthouse Café Trading.

1. Lighthouse Café will seek to enable sustainability beyond any grant funding to operate as a social enterprise

2. Heaven’s Kitchen has operated to a high standard and received in consecutive years 5 star awards form DMBS Environmental Health. Lighthouse Café in the new facilities will continue to operate to the same high standards.

3. Heaven’s Kitchen’s volunteers will operate the Lighthouse Café under the direction of two part time managers.

4. Lighthouse Café will have the experience of a qualified chef, a community café manager and retired café manager for M&S.

5. Lighthouse Café will draw on the support of existing volunteers and utilise new volunteers from the proposed drop in groups below.

 

Lighthouse Café Training

1. Equip, Enable & Empower is the motive behind Lighthouse Café training.

2. Lighthouse Café will offer opportunities to young people not in employment or education to volunteer and learn new skills in catering and café service, food handling, heath & hygiene, customer service, work experience, money handling, following recipes.

3. Lighthouse Café will provide healthy cooking classes and cooking on a budget.

 

Lighthouse Café Target Groups

Dudley Community Church and Dudley Counselling Centre  (DCC) have worked together for several years and have already developed services and activities for the;

1. Emotionally Vulnerable; Professional Counselling for Adults, Young people and Children

2. Physically Vulnerable; Healthily eating, Zumba & Zumba Gold for the elderly.

3. Socially Isolated; Golden Years coordinating and hosting events for the elderly, one to one visiting and visiting care/residential homes.

4. Youth Club is run by DCC on the Wrensnest estate with up to 50 young people attending every week.

5. Café will run breakfast clubs, after school clubs, parent & toddler messy café, helping the isolated with ‘knitter & natter club’ art & crafts café and computer café.