Discussions are taking place to try and stop the shutdown of the Our Kitchen on the Isle of Thanet scheme.
The project, which has been providing free food packages to charities, community organisations and individuals, issued a statement today (March 29) to say it would be closing after disagreement over operating procedures and a withdrawal of funding.
Our Kitchen on the Isle of Thanet had been picking up large amounts of supplies from organisations such as FareShare Kent to then be filtered out to local groups like Ramsgate Salvation Army, food banks and The Lifeboat Project in Westgate.
A proportion of funding has now been withdrawn – although the talks are thought to include reinstating this in some way – in the disagreement about safety measures.
In an online statement kitchen boss Sharon Goodyer said: “I am sorry for the following announcement from the bottom of my heart:
“Following the withdrawal of funding and extreme criticism of the ways I have worked recently I have to close Our Kitchen on the Isle of Thanet CIC immediately.
“I feel no need to defend myself or my team’s actions. I am extremely proud of the service we offered you. I have had to close because we cannot continue without the funding. We did everything for free and were always vulnerable to this action being taken against us.
“To all those families whom we were going to deliver to next week. I will post suggesting an alternative course of action for you as soon as I can.”
However, a bid is being made to resolve the issues which may mean the scheme carries on with a delivery service.
Co-ordination is also taking place for deliveries to be made via a depot at Ramsgate Town Council’s Radford House.
Several offers of fundraising have also been made by the community to ensure the food scheme can carry on.
The Isle of Thanet News will update when those discussions are complete
DBS checks have been relaxed at the moment
I am on the update service if I can help x x x
So sad. Maybe people should just be left to starve. Then when they’re dead they’ll be safe. I’m sure the council would like that suggestion
Sharon Goodyer has just won a national award for her Summer Kitchen scheme which we hope will return this year all being this virus is under control by then. It is such a shame that during this time of extra need brought around by the national emergency and people being asked to stay home from work that funding should be withdrawn for such an important charitable cause. Sharon puts her heart and soul into helping others at her own expense too and I just hope something happens very soon bless her to allow her to continue helping others in need.
Summer kitchen plans were for expanding to include more thanet schools. Obviously everything is on hold at the moment. I will continue to support sharon’s projects physically and financially .
I too was concerned about the Summer Kitchen because so many well fed adults were using it and so few children. Whilst ideally it should be free to all that should at least include some kind of record of the demographic using a well intended service. If all comers were just asked for age and post code then the information would be useful for planning for the future. When I attended, and asked for where I should put my donation they had to hunt for the collections bucket.
Summer kitchen does NOT means test people,,its for All of the community,we welcome everybody, the prince eats with the pauper , entertainment for everyone, we do not rattle our tins for money. We got grants from large Organizations such as Sainsbury’s, and county councillors grants.it worked
Good idea to include other schools but, according to what I have seen , it needs to be monitored and planned better .
But Barry she claims she cannot carry on without funding answer me this a few weeks ago you and Constantine donated KCC funds of £4500
Did these get withdrawn?
As claims have been made funds were withdrawn?
My offer of funding remains
Sharon and her team are fantastic. Few people give of themselves as selflessly as Sharon, and she deserves to be supported in her fantastic work. Now, more than ever, Thanet is facing a crisis. Projects like Sharon’s keep families fed and healthy and certainly with more success than any of the rubbish TDC lays claim to delivering.
I’m going to be contacting Sharon now to offer a donation. Others should do the same if they can.
I don’t think that funding is the real issue here.
This is a TRAVESTY for THANET. How can we lose a woman who has done so much for us as a community? If it is because of a single person who has tried to undetmine all that Sharon has achieved, then quite simply this person needs exposing and taking down.