The Wiggly 100
There is a brilliant charity called The Wiggly Worm, started by Rob Rees, aka The Cotswold Chef. It's is a charity that exists to improve health, well-being and self-esteem amongst the vulnerable, disadvantaged or seldom heard. They have a converted 1970's Citroen H Van where they serve street food in Cirencester.
Wiggly Worm 100 Club
And they havestarted a new thing called the Wiggly Worm 100 Club is to persuade 100 organisations in Gloucestershire to donate just £250 to this amazing charity so that it can feed the most vulnerable and create better chances for all in our County.
So it seemed like the perfect charity for Neon Play to get involved with as they are Cirencester-based and doing brilliant work for people who really need their help - plus they make some of the finest fodder this side of the Fat Duck.
What's the van for?
It is no ordinary street food truck. The truck will help support our clients with work experience and the chance to gain in confidence during the day and then, in the evenings and cold winter days, will be working as a Food Poverty Pop Up in areas of the county where we know people need regular, hot, good, nutritious food to grow.
Rent a quote
Oli Christie, CEO of Neon Play commented, "We love both the concept of the Wiggly Worm charity and the fact that their awesome van is parked slap bang in the middle of Cirencester is a fantastic boost to the town. So we are delighted and proud to be one of the 100 companies in Gloucestershire as part of the Wiggly 100."
Read all about it
Here's the proper press release if you want all the full info:
The street food menus are global tastes and flavours, utilising the best of local and ethical food as much as possible. They embrace our values on good health. The food poverty pop up will need your support, and with each hot meal estimated to cost £2, we value your donations and volunteering.
Star Bistro, Glos. 15th January 2014 : Rob Rees MBE launched the ‘Wiggly Worm 100 club’ with a cookery demonstration at The Creed Foodservice kitchen today with guests from across a broad spectrum of the business community.
The aim of the Wiggly Worm 100 Club is to persuade 100 organisations in Gloucestershire to donate just £250 to this amazing charity so that it can feed the most vulnerable and create better chances for all in our County.
The statistics for what people assume to be an affluent county are quite startling; 16% of Gloucestershire’s children are living in poverty and our poorest communities are within the UK’s poorest. Our county spends £144 million per year on obesity with 25% of adults in this area deemed to be obese. As many as 6% of our 16 year to 18 year olds are listed as ‘vulnerable’ and malnutrition among the elderly continues to grow.
Disproportionately those who for whatever reason are vulnerable due to income, education, health, race, gender or age are likely to suffer ill health and inequality. Equally a homeless person will die 30 years earlier than any other with the average life expectancy for a homeless female at 43 years and for a male 47 years.
Debs Kearley was homeless and she said, “Without the handouts, there’d just be no hope for us.” Debs now has a job working for Rob at The Star Bistro and she loves it as it’s given her the opportunity to turn around her life.
The Little Green Wiggly machine, the award winning street food 1967 Citroen H van led by Chef Lawrence, turned up at Staverton Technology Park today and fed many of the employees from Creed Foodservice, Britannia Construction and Future Advanced Manufacturing. This van doubles as a pop-up poverty van so the donations from the staff today contribute to feeding the homeless or those in food poverty in Gloucestershire.
Chris Creed, CEO of Creed Foodservice, who hosted today’s launch of the Wiggly Worm 100 Club said, “Food is our passion and I am delighted to work with Rob and his team to support his vision of eradicating food poverty in Gloucestershire. We believe that £250 is not too much for many successful businesses to donate to this great cause. Potentially any member of our society is just 3 months away from being homeless.”
Rob said, “What has struck me most since I started this charity is the gratitude of people who really appreciate it – it’s awesome. Common decency, humanity and common sense are all it takes to make a difference.”
“Already 22 companies have joined the Wiggly Worm 100 club and we are hoping to persuade another 78 to join us which is what we need to underpin our work. We aim to eradicate food poverty in Gloucestershire through nurturing and education over the next three years. We use food as the medicine to bring health and well-being to our County.” You can play a part and make a real difference by pledging a donation emailing team@thewigglyworm.org.uk
