Two Nottingham community projects which aim to boost people’s mental health through changing their attitude to food and online art classes have been given a flying start after they shared £1,000 by taking part in an online charity event.
Gaby Goodchild and Helen Woodford, who are both from West Bridgford, walked away with £700 and £300 worth of funding respectively after participating in the DAN Soup event, which took place last week.
The event, which was previously known as Hard Heads and Hang Ups and is usually held at the THiNK in NG meeting space in Nottingham, resembles BBC TV’s Dragon’s Den, with participants required to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges, who then have to choose who deserves the funding, helped by members of the audience.
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Art teacher Helen Woodford, who runs Create! Art School, in West Bridgford, has won £300 to launch an online art class for people who struggle with anxiety an loneliness after taking part in an even sponsored by Derbyshire chemical company Lubrizol.
The coronavirus lockdown meant that last week’s event had to be renamed and held via the Zoom video app, while the prize pot came from each audience member’s £5 signing-up fee and a further £250 donated by East Midlands chemical company Lubrizol UK, based in Hazelwood, Derbyshire, whose representative, Karen Clegg, was one of the judges.
Four people took part in the pitch, but the judges agreed that Gaby was the winner, after she impressed the panel by outlining her plans to launch The Happy Eating Project, an online course for parents and children to help them change their relationship with food, which can be at the heart of a wealth of mental problems.
Helen, an art teacher who runs Create! Art School, was declared the runner-up and will put her money towards setting up Together in Art, an online art class aimed at people who are experiencing anxiety and loneliness.
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Gaby, a former NHS community dietitian who now runs her own freelance business, The Healthful Dietitian from a clinic in West Bridgford, said: “I was amazed to have won the money. The other pitches were so good that I thought they would win, but I’m extremely grateful and will use the funding to help seek input from a therapist for my online project.
Gaby Goodchild, who runs The Healthful Dietitian from a clinic in West Bridgford has won £700 to launch The Happy Eating Project, an online course for parents and children to help them change their relationship with food.
“I am a mum of two girls and I know the pressures that they are now coming under concerning dieting and body image, while there is a huge issue surrounding the way we view what’s good or healthy when it comes to food, much of which comes from what parents were told when they were younger.
“I want to help parents to understand how they can teach their children to eat intuitively and take control of their diet, rather than suffer mental issues concerned with how much other people tell them about how much they should be eating, or what foods are good or bad.”
Helen had to temporarily close her art school due to the coronavirus outbreak but says that she has continued to teach her students online – and is busier than ever as a result.
She said: “Teaching online during the coronavirus has been a real eye-opener and it has inspired me to reach out to people who would not normally come along to one of my classes by setting up a new online class.
“I used to teach art in secondary schools and I know every well what a positive effect doing art has on people. It’s not about making amazing pictures, it’s about having a go at being creative and exploring colours, styles and techniques.
“I enjoyed the pitch and some of the questions were extremely hard, but I told them how art has an incredible ability to help people grow and increase their confidence and I’m thrilled that they backed my project.”
Karen Clegg, who is chair of Lubrizol’s Charity and Community committee, said: “We were really proud to be sponsoring this event once again and we were delighted with how big and widespread the audience was, which meant the overall pot of monies was £1,000.
“We had a very engaged audience, who asked some excellent questions, and both Gaby and Helen were delighted and completely amazed. I’m looking forward to finding out how they will get on.”
ENDS
