The organisers of a Shirebrook community project say they’re hoping to spread the word about their vital work after taking part in a marketing exercise with students from a local school.
Volunteers from the Storehouse Community Food store say that they came away with a host of ideas about ways in which to raise its profile after working with teenagers at Shirebrook Academy last week.
The event was held as part of the school’s citizenship day, when normal lessons were replaced with sessions aimed at raising the students’ awareness of skills they’ll need for employment and for the wider world after school.
During the day, David Spencer, a volunteer from Storehouse, which is based at the Brook Community Church and Centre in Main Street, came in to talk to Year 10 students about the work that it undertakes in the community, including its membership project, whereby families pay a £5 subscription each week and can take home to a large bag of food in return.
Shirebrook Academy student Thomas Brown is congratulated by David Spencer from Storehouse after he put together a presentation on how the organisation can use social media to spread the word.
The scheme is designed to prevent local families from going hungry without subjecting them to the ignominy of receiving a handout from a food bank – instead, they are visiting a community store and pay for the food themselves.
Around 500 people are currently signed up to the scheme, but organisers believe more people could benefit from it, leading it to work with the school to seek ideas of how to reach out to them.
By the end of the day, students had generated a host of ideas, including a video package for Bolsover TV, assemblies for local primary schools and a presentation on how to use social media, which was devised by Thomas Brown.
David Spencer said: “We’re really grateful to the students at Shirebrook Academy for learning about what we’re doing and thinking of ways to help us.
“There is a lot of stigma surrounding people using a food bank, so we transitioned from a food bank into a community store, which is a better way for us to help people who are understandably reluctant to be seen to be taking a handout.
“It’s been running since last year and while numbers are rising, awareness is still relatively low, so hopefully we can put some of the ideas that the students have generated into practice to let more people know that we are there for them.”
Tracy Horton, personal development co-ordinator at Shirebrook Academy, said: “The students came up with lots of ideas, so it was a very worthwhile exercise that has taught them something about their local community, encouraged them to look into marketing and using their creativity for social enterprises and raising awareness and helped a community good cause all at the same time.”
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Shirebrook Academy is based in Common Lane, Shirebrook. It has 840 students and has particular strengths in personal development, careers and employability. In 2018 the school came second in the British Chamber of Commerce Education Partnership Award and qualified for the finals as East Midlands Regional winners.
In May 2017 Shirebrook Academy joined Aston Community Education Trust (ACET), benefitting from the efficiencies to be gained from high quality centralised services and the challenge and support of ACET’s School Improvement Team.
For more details contact Simon Burch at Penguin PR by ringing 07735 397888 or emailing simon@penguinpr.co.uk
