A NEW community kitchen has opened at Footprints Women’s Centre in the Colin area.

The kitchen entitled ‘Waterfront Community Kitchen’ launched in conjunction with PricewaterhouseCoopers who have a social cooperate partnership with the centre.

PricewaterhouseCoopers moved from their building at Lanyon Place to a new city centre location at Wellington Place last year and have donated various items of furniture to the centre through the partnership. 

The community kitchen is the latest in a stream of donations, with the kitchen from the waterfront building gaining a new home at the centre.

Isobel Loughran, CEO of Footprints Women’s Centre, spoke with the Andersonstown News on the opening of the kitchen and the work the centre does in the Colin area.

‘‘We have had a social cooperate partnership with Price Waterhouse Coopers over the past three years," she said.

‘‘They have provided an immense amount of development to the organisation; the partnership has been a great model in how large corporates can make an impact on local communities and they have provided us with furniture, desks, cabinets, chairs, tables to completely refurbish Footprints Women’s Centre.

‘‘It has completely transformed the centre for the women and children that are coming here.’’

Isobel also spoke about how the new community kitchen will be utilised in the centre going forward. 

‘‘We could never have afforded the size or the quality of the kitchen, we have been provided with an opportunity to develop our work in the area of sustainable living.

‘‘The kitchen will operate as a cookery school offering women and girls in the Colin area accredited hospitality skills, training and workplace experience. That will be able to enhance both their volunteering and employment opportunities as well. We will also offer practical nutritional programmes.’’ 

Footprints have been opened for the past 31 years in the Colin area and was set up to provide essential services for women and children with a social enterprise approach. 

Their services include the North’s first social supermarket, a drop-in, training, crisis intervention, support and development, advice and advocacy among a wide range of other amenities. 

The social supermarket which opened in 2017 involved Eileen Wilson, sustainability living manager at the centre, who Isobel says, ‘‘has been working for over 20 years looking at the whole issue of sustainable living and how that supports families in poverty, especially food poverty".

‘‘This hasn’t come over night, a lot of work has been done over the past 20 years such as having a kitchen and food grown allotments at the centre, we have food orchards, which grows apple, pears and plums and the social supermarket takes food that is diverted from landfill and provides it at discounted prices to our members.

‘‘Over the past three years, throughout Covid and the cost-of-living crisis, it has been really important, we have diverted over 60 tonnes of food from landfill to families that our experiencing food poverty. That is around the weight of five standard double decker buses, but it equates to over 146 thousand meals.’’

Isobel spoke of the demand on the service at this time as a result of the cost-of-living crisis.

‘‘The numbers are rising that are accessing, but all members that access are provided with a layer of support. When families come in with food poverty that usually brings many other issues so families can come in and get food support, but they can also get tailored support. That might be looking at benefits, advice checking, accessing training or volunteering in the centre, childcare support, family support and one-to-one mentoring.

‘‘It’s like a wraparound service, and it works very well because the social supermarket is situated in the women’s centre with all the other services.

‘‘We also last year were awarded a green flag award and we’re so so delighted for the Colin area because of the environmental management of our gardens and outside space, Colin is an area now for visitors to come and see.

‘‘The centre is about empowerment, it is wonderful for the women and children in this area for them to know that they have built that in the area, it’s a tremendous achievement.’’

Benny Miskelly, Purpose Officer for PwC, who opened the kitchen with Isobel said: ‘‘I was delighted to be at the opening of Footprints Women’s Centre’s amazing new Community Kitchen yesterday, which has been kitted out with furniture and the kitchen from our old Waterfront Plaza office.’’

‘‘The team here will use the kitchen to run a cookery school, nutrition programmes and much more as part of the centre’s ongoing programme of activities for local people in West Belfast.’’