A community worker who set up a community café out of her own pocket has opened up about her push to have an “intergenerational community hub” for people in The Meadows. The Queens Walk Community Café has young people, some who would otherwise be doing nothing volunteering on a regular basis. With the cost of living in mind, the café is coming up with ways to support people in the community.
At the café, hot affordable meals are served from Monday to Friday. The café on Queens Walk opened in June after the owner, Loretta Kelly saw a need for it in the community.
Loretta Kelly, 41 was raised in The Meadows area. Loretta has worked in the health and social care industry for years.
READ NEXT: People living off the grid in Nottingham miss out on energy support payments
Speaking about why she decided to open the cafe, Loretta said: “Because of my previous jobs, I can identify needs and struggles and right now, it’s not just people on benefits struggling, it’s local people. Meadows needed community engagement from young and old people.”
The Queens Walk Community Café is an initiative from the UK Food Aid CIC (community interest company).
One of Loretta’s main aims has been to focus her time on young people in the area. She said: “I want to engage the local youth. We have some volunteers who are on probation. They come in to help out, serve, some have even carried ladies' shopping back home with them. There’s a real mix at the café.
“We have young and old people sitting together. This is an intergenerational hub for all people. With the young people, I can only keep my eye on them when they’re at the café when the doors are closed, there’s nothing I can do.”
At the community café, there is a book corner where people can come in to borrow books. The community café has a menu created by local people with food prices that start from £2.50 to £6.50.
The best seller is lasagne where regulars from Clifton catch the tram for their portion. Loretta said: “It’s heart-warming knowing people are getting a healthy, nutritious meal a day.
“People have said when they come back here to other places, they’re paying the odds.
“Here, it is cost effective and it’s creating a hub not a business and referring and signposting people to other services in the centre if needed.”
Loretta spoke about the lack of facilities in the area. She feels that there is nothing for youngsters.
She said: “There are no youth clubs open, we need these facilities back.” There are around 20 young people coming in to volunteer at the café from the ages 14 to 22.
One of the volunteers, Tushan Dyer, 22 is currently on probation. From The Meadows, he said: “I just came to help out. I cook, serve food, help out with the deliveries and unpack them.
“Before the café, there was nothing to do. There needs to be more stuff to do, it could be anything: a youth club, a studio.”
Tushan continued: “This has given me something to do, it keeps me occupied because here, everyone’s seeing each other and speaking again.” If it wasn’t for the cafe, Tushan admits that many young people may not be doing anything constructive.
He said: “We’d just be standing on the precinct doing stuff you don’t want to get involved in.”
With the current situation people find themselves in financially due to the cost of a living, Loretta introduced a food bank.
She said: “We’ve introduced a food bank because of the cost of living crisis. I can put a basket out of food for people to take in the morning and it’ll all be gone.
“Because of the current need, we’ve had to do food parcels too - which we’ve not been funded for. I’ve had to invest my own money into this café but I’m not upset about that, it’s for the community.”
Some of the cafe's funding since June has been from Arnold Clarke and Movement for Food. The café has a membership with Fairshare and receives donations from them under the Fairshare Go Scheme.
Loretta continued: "I can now deliver the level of support I want to without having anyone else’s say after being an employee for so long.”
The Queens Walk Community Café would appreciate any donations possible if people are in a position to do so. You can donate here: https://opencollective.com/uk-food-aid/projects/queens-walk-community-cafe/donate
READ NEXT:
