Homelessness charity Crisis has added its own flapjacks to the
shelves of its London shops, with the classic bake playing an
important part in the charity’s work.
As well as providing housing, employment and well-being support
to people experiencing homelessness, Crisis also trains up its
members as chefs, waiters and baristas at its Shoreditch café.
Baked on site at the café, the flapjacks are being delivered by
bike to the coffee bars in Crisis’s Peckham, Dalston, Finsbury
Park and Croydon stores and are available for customers to
purchase from today Monday 16th August.
The Crisis Flapjack is special because it’s the very first thing
trainees make on their first day in the kitchen. As well as
helping them gain a qualification, a NOCN level 1 in preparation
for work experience, it is also their first taste of working in a
professional kitchen.
Matt was living in backpacker hostels with no education
or employment history when he arrived at Crisis and began the
kitchen training programme:
“I'd never cooked before – it was just toast until then. I
realised cooking can be messy, it's fun, it's simple - it's not a
hard thing to do. After when we were eating the flapjack
together, I was thinking, ‘I can actually do it’. When I finished
the Crisis training, I went and worked as a chef. Then I was a
head chef at a pub and ran my own kitchen. I went from being
someone who’d never worked in a kitchen before, to running a pub
kitchen in 5 months. Crisis gave me everything.”
Charlie Atkinson, hospitality manager at Crisis,
said: “We love seeing our trainees get stuck in on their
first day, making their flapjacks. For many people who are
homeless, whether in a B&B or on the streets, they’ve not had
access to a kitchen for a long time, so it’s brilliant watching
them make something from scratch and put their own twist on it.
"And it’s not just about baking. It gives our members confidence
to work and collaborate in a professional environment.
“We’re so excited to be selling the Crisis Flapjack in our
shops’. As well as raising vital funds to support our services,
each bake shows that by ending someone’s homelessness, you give
that person the opportunity to move forward and flourish.”
-ENDS-
Notes to editors
- The Crisis Flapjack is available for purchase at the
charity’s Peckham, Dalston, Finsbury Park and Croydon stores, as
well as Café from Crisis, for £2. All proceeds go towards
Crisis’s work to end homelessness. The Crisis flapjack is vegan.
- NOCN is an educational and skills charity, and a top ten
Ofqual regulated Awarding Organisation.
