Cause UK has received a Santander award of £10,000 to fund their work with the Veterans’ Artisan Bakery and product development.
Cause UK was named as one of the winners of Santander’s Social Enterprise Development Awards (SEDA) which supports social enterprises and trading charities looking to grow their business and improve their local community. The annual award scheme has awarded 101 social ventures across the UK this year with funding of almost £1million.
Clair Challenor-Chadwick from Cause UK said:
It was great to hear we’d been chosen to receive an award as it will help us to support our work in developing commercial products for the Veterans’ Artisan Bakery at Catterick Garrison. Net profits from sales will be donated to health and well-being services supporting ex-military personnel who have been homeless or who are at risk of homelessness adapt to Civvy Street.
Cause UK fundraised to help establish the bakery in 2012, the bakery is a health and well-being project helping ex-military personnel gain new life skills and overcome mental health injuries.
Clair who is a Director of the Veterans’ Artisan Bakery Community Interest Company elicited the support of celebrity chefs Marco Pierre White (pictured) and Rosemary Shrager to fundraise for the project and help throw the spotlight onto the plight of veterans suffering from homelessness, family breakdown, PTSD and addiction.
Steve Pateman, Head of UK Banking at Santander, said:
SEDA was set up to help social ventures with the potential to grow and we’re delighted to be able to support Cause UK and their work with the Veterans’ Artisan Bakery and the valuable work they do in their community. Our congratulations go to them and all the 2015 winners.
Alongside the prize money, Cause UK will have access to a business support package from Santander which includes business webinars, funded internships and networking events to meet with other social entrepreneurs in the region.
Cause UK specialises in supporting charities, social enterprise, the public sector and businesses who have a social mission. As the latest State of the Social Enterprise Survey Reports: ‘There are 70,000 social enterprises in the UK, contributing £24 billion to the economy and employing nearly a million people.’ A third of all SMEs are now social enterprises.
Well it’s just JUST GREAT that Clair and Ann should have achieved this – well done them – but why aren’t Mr Cameron & Mr Osborne paying the bills – and a whole lot more – for this cause? I think it’s unforgivable: maybe Jeremy Corbyn can knock some decency in them tho, v sadly, I rather doubt it.