Marion's Kitchen a big success!
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Annabelle mixes a tuna filling for a toasted sandwich. “I’ve only been coming a few weeks but when I get up in the morning I look forward to coming and helping out.” She says. Annabelle is one of a number of people with learning disabilities that staff Marion’s Kitchen, a project of Prospect’s Stepping Stones day opportunities service. Marion’s Kitchen is a café that provides food and drinks for three days a week in the Moordown Community Centre in Bournemouth.
Today Jessica, Annabelle and Tina are helping out with food prep and serving the food to customers while Shirley and Lisa take orders, sort out the money and make the drinks. Although as Lisa says; “We just do what needs doing. I like doing the orders as it helps me learn about money.” Shirley who is ‘front of house’ says “We all muck in”. For all of them there is a growing confidence in themselves as they take on responsibility for tasks, deal with the public and learn new skills. For Shirley there is the added joy of discovering the love of Jesus through her involvement and becoming a Christian. Being part of the team at Marion’s Kitchen has transformed Shirley, giving her an opportunity to grow in all aspects of her life.
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As well as the usual café service of drinks and snacks the team produce around 30 cooked lunches, salads and sandwiches every session, although it can get busier. Now they are spreading their wings and are doing ‘made to order’ buffet lunches for the groups using Moordown and this year did a Christmas lunch for the staff and clients of the Centre.
For the Moordown Community Centre the café is hugely valued. “It’s a big improvement on what was happening before” says Wendy McGarthland the centre manager, as she has her lunch at the café. “As well as the good standard of food and service it has impacted positively on local attitudes to the learning disabled.”
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It has been so successful that Prospects has been asked to extend the service to five days a week. At the moment Stepping Stones doesn’t have the resources to cover this extended service as they are opening a Shop, ‘Bright Prospects’, in the local parade to sell handmade cards and crafts and fair-trade food products. It is a mark of the hard work and capabilities of all the staff at Marion’s Kitchen that they are leaving the customers wanting more.
Through her work in Marion’s Kitchen Annabelle and the others are discovering what work feels like and what it means to learn and grow in the things they can do and make choices about. Annabelle’s smile as she delivers another lunch to appreciative customers tells us she is loving the experience.
